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A PECULIAR PEOPLE

[Jn-om a JVtotogra/h by Janus A. Smart.
A GROUP OF DOUKHOBORS ON THEIR FIRST LANDING IN CANADA. pLATE I

A PECULIAR PEOPLE

THE DOUKHOBORS

BY
AYLMER MAUDE
AUTHOR OF "TOLSTOY AND HIS PROBLEMS"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
1904

PRINTED by
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.

•' God's gift was just that man conceive of truth
And yearn to gain it, catching at mistake
As midway help till he reach fact indeed." Browning.

PREFACE
The first chapter in this book is a reprint, with abbre
viations and slight corrections, of a chapter included in
the first (but not in the second) edition of Tolstoy and his
Problems. I republish it, not because it is just what, after a
further three years' attention to the subject, I should
say to-day, but because it shows how some of us who
were concerned in the migration, viewed the matter at
the time it was written. As I then saw chiefly one side
of the case, I was able to state that side perhaps more
forcibly than I could restate it now that circumstances
have obliged me to pay more attention to other phases
of the matter.
The second chapter tells of my own visit to Canada
with the first Doukhob6r pioneers.
The rest of the book owes its origin to the " Pilgrim
ages," which showed me that I had been misinformed
about the sect, and had consequently failed to tell the
whole truth about theni.
That my explanation, after discovering my mistake,
has been so long delayed is due to the intricacy of the
problem, to my unwillingness to risk blundering a second

viii PREFACE
time, and to a certain reluctance to challenge opinions
more or less vouched for by Tolstoy, and strongly advo
cated by his lieutenant, Vladimir Tchertkoff.
The chapter on Doukhob6r History contains much
matter new to English readers, and gives the first con
secutive sketch, in our language, of the history of this
interesting sect.
Most of the illustrations in this book are from photo
graphs taken by my friend Herbert P. Archer, to whom
I am also much indebted for information concerning the
present condition of the Canadian Doukhobors, among
whom he is living.
The frontispiece shows a group of Doukhobors on
their first arrival in Canada. It is from a photograph
taken by James A. Smart, Deputy Minister of the
Interior, to whom I am indebted for permission to re
produce it.
Great Baddow,
1st August, 1904.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Russian Exodus  1
II. Preparations nr Canada  45
III. Sources of Doukhoborism  79
IV. Doukhob6r History  Ill
V. First Years in Canada  177
VI. The Doukhobor Pilgrimage  210
VII. More about the Pilgrimage  233
VIII. Communism  246
IX. A Letter from Tolstoy  270
X. A Criticism of Tolstoy  278
XI. Conclusion  311
APPENDICES
1. Letter from the Deputy Minister of the Interior . 325
2. Extract from Privy Council Report .... 327
3. Chronological Summary of Chapters III. and IV. . 329
INDEX  331

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. A Group of Doukhobors  Frontispiece
2. Peter VerIoim: the Leader .... facing page 26
3. A Doukhob6r Family  „ „ 72
4. womenklnd  „ „ 130
5. Doukhobors Amused  „ „ 184
6. Spinning  , „ 192
7. Members of the Leader's Guard, before 1893 „ „ 222
8. Non-users of Horses, fetching Flour from
Yorkton  „ „ 228
9. Nicholas ZIbakof: a Leading Pilgrim . „ „ 234
10. The Pilgrims: a Halt by the Way . . „ „ 238
11. Pilgrims ordered to dress  , „ 242
12. One of the Old School  „ „ 250
13. One of the New School. . . . „ „ 252
14. Flax Threshing  „ „ 256
15. The Leader, with his "Niece," inspects a
Threshing Machine  „ „ 318
Map of Canada  » ,, 50
Map of Russia  ,, „ 122

A PECULIAR PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
A RUSSIAN EXODUS
In a short story by Anatole France, entitled Le Procurateur
de Judee, Pontius Pilate explains the principles which
guided him in public life. He was an Imperialist, and a
patriotic politician, intent on maintaining the supremacy
of Rome, on extending the blessing of the Roman peace,
and on giving the benefit of Roman law and order to
subject races whether they wanted it or not. Acts which
seem harsh or even wrong if judged by themselves, were
expedient and necessary to further the great purpose which,
in his opinion, overrode questions of mere morality, or,
rather, set a standard of morality different to that which
reason and conscience would demand of a man whose first
duty was not to a State, but to a good God.
Pilate is represented as feeling towards the Jews much
as some Governor-General or High Commissioner sent out
from England might feel towards the Hindoos or the Boers.
They were a troublesome lot : too stupid to see the advan
tages that would accrue from the prevalence of his ideas
over theirs. To endanger Rome's supremacy out of regard
for the life and liberty of one, or many, of them, seemed
1 B

2 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
to him ridiculous ; and it never entered his head that
any religious or moral movement among a small sect
of provincial peasants could be more important than his
own decrees, or would have more effect, even on the
destinies of Rome, than the life and doings of Tiberius
Cassar himself.
The insignificance, in his eyes, of moral movements,
and of moral as distinguished from legal and political
considerations, is well brought out by the story. Pilate,
in his old age, many years after his recall from Judea, is
talking to a friend who had lived in the East, and who
had been an admirer of a public dancer, Mary Magdalene,
following her from place to place, and losing sight of her
only when she " 'joined a small group of men and women
who followed a young Galilean wonder-worker. His name
was Jesus : he was of Nazareth, and was sent to the cross
for some crime or other. Do you, Pontius, remember the
man ? '
"Pontius Pilate contracted his eyebrows, and raised
his hand to his forehead like one who seeks to recall some
thing. Then after some moments of silence : —
" ' Jesus,' muttered he, ' Jesus of Nazareth ? I have no
recollection of him.' "
We need not be concerned to defend the probability
of Anatole France's story. At any rate it succeeds in
causing one to feel how great a difference the observer's
point of view makes to his estimate of the importance of
current events. Photographers sometimes get their work
out of focus, but journalists are in constant danger of
doing so. They attach importance to what is obvious
and blatant, while missing the still small voice that will
really influence the future.
H, D. Lloyd has said, with as much truth as could

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 3
well be packed into the space, that, " to tell us of the pro
gressive sway of brotherhood in all human affairs is the
sole message of history," — but who, from a perusal of the
leading newspapers of any country, would suspect that
the progressive sway of brotherhood is more desirable than
the dominance of one particular race over all others ?
It is a terrible fact that people are brought up under
the delusion that the triumph and expansion of their
nation is identical with the triumph of goodness. National
selfishness is not seen to be a dangerous force, but, under
the name of patriotism, is openly extolled as a virtue,
so th«f the smouldering ill will created by national and
vaasl jealousies continually threatens to break into flames.
' Ultimately men must either reject the moral principles
vvhich underlie both the great religions of the world,
Christianity and Buddhism alike, or they must emancipate
themselves from a superstition which teaches that we not
only do, but ought to, desire the advantage of our own
country in its encounters with all its neighbours, and that
it is a noble deed to share in obtaining advantages by the
slaughter of one's fellow-men. We stand at the parting
of two ways, and have to decide whether goodness or
patriotism is to be supreme. We cannot serve two
masters. If the majority of men are aware that something is
seriously wrong, it is only because the burden of continu
ally increasing armaments, to which no limit can be fore
seen, is an object-lesson too palpable to be overlooked.
But the evil is primarily a moral evil, and the remedy
must be primarily a moral remedy, and this is not yet
generally recognized even among the minority who are
anxious to devise some mechanism of arbitration or alli
ance to avert the material ills which weigh upon us and

4 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
threaten our children. Many who think themselves
enlightened are seeking for an external peace to be imposed
by force, and are willing to leave the roots of envy, hatred,
and malice still unexposed.
Were good will present, no elaborate machinery would
be needed to enable people not to kill each other; but
without good will the best machinery will not work.
Courts of Arbitration may be established and may be very
useful, but the essential condition of their establishment
and utility is that the moral aspect of the question
should be clearly perceived and keenly felt by the peoples
concerned. But, while the rulers and the priests and the learned
have been delicately touching the fringe of this question,
the Doukhobors, a community of over seven thousand
Russian peasants, appear to have radically solved it for
themselves, by deciding that they will not learn to kill
their fellow-men. The Russian laws demanded that their
young men should enter the army, but it is the busi
ness of those who make bad laws to mend them. A
Doukhobdr's duty is to obey God rather than man.
To those of us who expect that militarism will ulti
mately evoke in Europe, and probably in our own country,
a struggle more memorable than the emancipation move
ment of the years 1830 to 1865 in the United States of
America, the story of the Doukhobors presents itself, not
as ah isolated occurrence, but as a link in a chain which,
commencing before Isaiah foretold that swords should be
beaten to ploughshares, will only be complete when the
collective slaughter of man by man becomes — as isolated
murders or acts of cannibalism now are — abhorrent to the
reason and the conscience of the generality of sane men
and women.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 5
I should like, therefore, briefly to tell the story of the
Doukhobors, but to do so is not easy.
What is true of other men is true of them — they have
not always lived up to their beliefs. Like other sects,
their views have varied from man to man, and from year
to year. They were, for the most part, an illiterate folk,
who seldom put their thoughts on paper. They accepted
the decisions of recognized Leaders, one of whom always
came into authority as soon as his predecessor died.
Through long years of persecution they learnt to conceal
their beliefs ; and it is impossible to say with certainty
and exactitude what, as a community, they have believed
at any given moment, though the main trend of their
thought, and the matters of practice on which they
differed from their neighbours are plainly discernible.
A further difficulty lies in the fact that what has been
written about the Doukhobors has seldom been written
impartially. It has often been set down in order to make
out a case for or against them. First, we have the state
ments made to justify or explain their persecutions and
banishments. Many officials seem to have considered the
Doukhobors to be obstinate, disloyal, unpatriotic sectarians,
stupidly preferring their own opinions to those of the
properly constituted authorities in Church and State.
Orthodox priests and loyal officials made accusations
which lacked confirmation. Then, from time to time,
some renegade Doukhobors, expelled perhaps from the
sect for bad. conduct, or desirous of ingratiating them
selves with the " powers that be," would denounce their
fellows, attuning their confessions to the temper and
views of those they were addressing. In this way
accusations of crime, blasphemy, and conspiracy were
produced, which may occasionally have contained some

6 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
truth, but were sometimes concocted merely out of
malice. The information supplied by the friends of the Dou
khobors is more reliable,* but in Russia not much has
been allowed to appear, and the book best known about
them in England, Christian Martyrdom in Russia, is un
questionably an ex parte statement. It is a book
hastily compiled, inviting subscriptions for the cause ; and
such works seldom succeed in stating their case with
impartiality. Moreover, so fluid a creed as that of the
Doukhobors is extremely liable to be unintentionally
tinged with the views of those who present it, or who
select the specimens by which we are asked to judge it.
In the face of these difficulties I cannot wish the reader
to accept my presentation of the matter as containing the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. All I
can attempt is to give him a statement of the case as I
see it.
The name Dou-kho-bdrs is not difficult to pronounce ;
the " k " is scarcely heard at all, and the accent is on the
last syllable. There are other forms of the name, but this
is the simple and short form now usually employed.
The name was used at least as far back as the year
1785. Certain Russian sectarians (every one who believed
anything more reasonable than the doctrines of " the
Church" was a heretic or a sectarian) objected to the
use of icons and were called Iconobdrs (image-wrestlers).
On the same lines the name Doukhobdr (spirit-wrestler)
was formed, to describe those whom the Orthodox Russian
Church considered to be wrestling against the Holy Spirit.
* Were I now (1904) re- writing thiB chapter, I should have to modify
this statement.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 7
Like many other religious nicknames : Quaker, Shaker,
Methodist, etc., the name stuck. It admitted, however,
of an interpretation which rendered it innocuous, and the
Doukhobors claim to be those who fight, not with carnal
weapons, but armed with the Spirit of Truth. Recently
they have begun to call themselves " The Universal Com
munity of Christian Brotherhood," but to the rest of the
world they have remained " Doukhobors."
Nothing is definitely known of the sect, as a sect, before
the second half of the eighteenth century, but a very
plausible conjecture represents them as being spiritual
descendants of the so-called Judaizers, who, rejecting the
doctrine of the Trinity and the worship of icdns and of
saints, played a prominent part in Novgorod and Moscow
about the end of the fifteenth century ; and, yet further
back, of the Paulicians, who figure largely in the history
of the Eastern Church from the seventh to the eleventh
centuries, and of the Bogomilites of the twelfth century.
It has been stated that the sect was founded by a
Quaker who visited Russia in the eighteenth century, but
this is very doubtful. What comes out clearly in trying
to trace the spiritual ancestry of the Doukhobors, is the
extent to which various branches of the anti-Church
movement since the earliest Christian time have acted
aud reacted on one another.
Orest Novitsky, in his book on the Doukhobors,
published in Kief in 1832, notes the connection of the
Doukhobors —
(1) With the Gnostics, in their opinion of the Holy
Spirit. (2) With the Manicheans, in their belief in an inward
light, in their opinion of Jesus Christ, and in their belief
in the pre-existence, fall, and future state of man's soul.

8 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
(3) With the Paulicicms, in many matters, and especially
in their rejection of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, and,
in general, of the authority of a visible Church. (The
opinions of this sect, which was for centuries large
and powerful in the East, may be clearly recognized
in many subsequent reform movements in Western
Christendom.) (4) With the Anabaptists, in their Theocratic aspira
tions and their dislike of mundane Governments ; also in
their repudiation of infant baptism.
(5) With the early Quakers, especially in their belief
in the Christ within, and their non-resistant principles.
Novitsky further points out that when Peter the Great
suppressed the ancient Moscovite Guards, the Streltsi, the
latter's spirit of independence and dislike of authority
found vent in a religious direction. The Socinian, Ana
baptist, and Calvinist opinions, introduced, about that
time, by the foreigners in the service of Peter the Great,
found their most ready converts and most strenuous
adherents among the disbanded Streltsi. Novitsky goes
so far as to make the questionable statement that "the
Doukhobdr doctrine found its first spokesman in the
person of a Strelets, — the well-known Loiipkin," who,
with twenty followers, was arrested, tried, and imprisoned
about the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth
century, for believing that they received direct revelations
from the Holy Spirit.
This religious movement (of which the above was but
one indication), suppressed in Central Russia, spread to
distant provinces. Viewed in the light of the history of
the Streltsi, the independent spirit of the Don Cossacks
may help to explain the fact that those sturdy warriors,
after their subjugation by Russia, furnished a considerable

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 9
number of converts to the anti-Governmental faith of the
Doukhobors. ******
In speaking about the Doukhobors and in acknowledg
ing the clearness of their perception of certain fundamental
moral principles, and the heroic tenacity with which they
have acted on them, we must evidently be on our guard
against confounding the sect with the truths on which
they have built their polity. The sect has erred and split
in pieces in the past. It is possible that its members may
err yet more grossly and the sect disintegrate yet more
completely in the future, but the validity of certain prin
ciples to which they have testified will, I believe, remain
as long as the conscience of man continues to influence his
actions. The following remarks, made by F. S. Turner in his
valuable historical and critical study of The Quakers, seem
exceedingly applicable to the Doukhobors and their first
Leaders :—
"Fox brought religion to bear upon social life with
extraordinary persistency and success. But of social reform
or political reform, George Fox never so much as dreamt.
With him all life was religion, and only by pure religion
did he expect society and government to be regenerated.""
Again, Turner says, in words also strikingly applicable
to the Doukhobors and to those nearest them in thought :
" Amid the strife of controversy, and the bitterness of
schisms, we look in vain for the ideal Christian Church.
That unhappy delusion of infallibility marred the Quaker
movement from its outset. George Fox never learned the
full truth of toleration. He perceived plainly enough the
folly and crime of religious persecution ; but he did not
see the mistake and the mischief of that mental intolerance

10 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
which resents difference of opinion as a sin, and cannot
recognize an identical spiritual life under a diversity of
forms. This blemish dwarfed and deformed his society
from its birth, and shrivelled into a sect that which should
have blossomed and expanded into the reunion and revivi
fication of Christendom. Nevertheless, in spite of this
sad failure, a loving eye can discern the lineaments of the
ideal, gleaming through these unhappy obscurations."
******
To proceed with Doukhobdr history : Catherine II.
followed a policy of religious toleration, wisely declaring
that persecution excites animosities. But the Doukhobors
were oppressed nevertheless, for they were looked upon as
enemies, not only of the Church but of the State also, and
they were even guilty of attempting to spread their views,
which was an enormity not covered by the measure of
toleration contemplated by Catherine.
Paul on his accession also adopted a policy of toleration,
but changed his mind when, in 1799, some Doukhobors
were arrested in Little-Russia openly preaching that
rulers were not needed. A highly dangerous doctrine to
express in an Empire ruled over by a madman whose own
adherents were preparing to assassinate him ! Thirty-one
Doukhobors were sent in chains to work in the mines at
Ekaterinburg, "in order that they might thereby duly
feel," as the ukase expressed it, " that there are on earth
powers ordained by God as a firm defence for good people,
and for the terror and punishment of such evil doers."
Alexander I. expressed his belief that the persecutions
of the preceding thirty years had done no good, and that
true Christian principles cannot be disseminated by such
means. He allowed many of the Doukhobdrs to come
together from various parts of Russia to form a settlement

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 11
of their own at the "Milky Waters" near the sea of
Azof ; and this was a turning-point in the history of the
Doukhobdrs. From being a religious sect held together by unity in
opinions and beliefs, anxious to propagate those views
among their neighbours, and obliged to adjust their lives
and occupations to a diversity of circumstances and local
conditions, the Doukhobdrs became an industrial and
economic community, no longer persecuted for their
theoretical beliefs. When a sect thus becomes a com
munity, the interest shifts to a considerable extent from
the question, What did they believe ? to the question,
How did they live ?
They ceased to be propagandists, and became engaged
in the welfare of their own community and the mainte
nance of their own religion. Their opinions seem to
have been but very little modified during the remainder
of the century, so that a statement of what they believed
a hundred years ago may pass almost unaltered for a state
ment of what most of them believe to-day.* Then as
now, different individuals and different groups would
express themselves variously, yet almost all would show
a united front on matters on which they differed from the
Orthodox Russian Church.
The difficulty of describing the faith of a sect composed
of illiterate peasants, who produced no books, and whose
propaganda was carried on by word of mouth, and for the
most part secretly, would be very great but for the book
already alluded to, written by a student (afterwards Pro
fessor), Orest Novitsky, who made a most careful study
of the Doukhobdrs and their creed. It was written as his
* I leave this as I wrote it in 1901. The reader will, however, see
from subsequent chapters that the statement needs some correction.

12 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
thesis for a Doctor's degree, and though he wrote from
the point of view of an Orthodox Russian, he evidently
tried to describe the Doukhobdr beliefs fairly. That,
in the main, he succeeded in so doing is indicated
by the fact that the Doukhobdrs themselves eagerly
bought the book, and when it was out of print the price
rose to many pounds per copy owing to their anxiety to
possess it.
By following Novitsky (and in this account of their
faith I have kept almost to his words) we shall, therefore,
have a fair statement of their beliefs, drawn up at a time
when they already formed a compact community (of 3985
souls) with adherents still scattered about Russia, but
when the generation was still alive to whom the theoretical
opinions of the sect, and even the precise way of stating
those opinions, had been matters of the utmost practical
importance. Not to make this account too long, I have, where differ
ences of expression or of opinion are recorded, selected those
which appear to represent the main drift of Doukhobdr
opinion, and to correspond best with the views current
among them to-day.
I have followed Novitsky in classifying the tenets of
the Doukhobdr faith under the following heads, and
believe that his account thus reproduced will give the
reader as faithful and impartial a sketch of their opinions
as the difficulties of the case admit of.
(1) There is one God.
They do not deny the Trinity, but the expressions they
use about it are mystical, and sometimes amount to no
more than the statement that God may be approached
from three sides.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 13
The Tambdf Doukhobdrs, when asked whether they
acknowledged the Trinity, replied :
The Holy Trinity is a being beyond comprehension: the Father is
light, the Son life, and the Holy Spirit is peace ; it is affirmed in man,
the Father by memory, the Son by reason, the Holy Spirit by will: the
One God in Trinity.
This, as Novitsky correctly remarks, rather explains
away than affirms the doctrine of the Trinity.
The inclination to put one's own meaning into words
to which other people attach importance is active among
ourselves, and we need not, therefore, be surprised that
the Doukhobdrs, a small minority continually exposed to
persecution, had recourse to this practice.
People unwilling to abandon their opinions, sometimes
speak in this way from lack of clearness of thought, or
from lack of power clearly to express them, but sometimes
also from the desire to snatch a dialectic victory, or in
order to escape the ill-will, or propitiate the favour, of
those who do not share their opinions.
"Speech is a faculty enabling man to conceal his
thoughts," or more exactly, as Tennyson has it :
" Words, like Nature, half reveal
And half conceal the Soul within."
It should further be noted that in the Doukhobdr
statements of belief we continually find two different notes.
The one is calm, moderate, persuasive, couched almost in
the orthodox phraseology of the Eastern Church, but
importing a philosophic truth into the conventional
phrases, and, at dangerous points, taking refuge in
mysticism. The other is clear, resolute, radical ; there is
no mysticism or secrecy about it ; but it is often harsh,
contemptuous, .and inimical, not merely to all authority in

14 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Church and State, but towards all who do not agree at
once and absolutely.
It answers to the harshest note sounded by the first
generation of Quakers, in their scorn of " steeple-houses "
and " hireling priests."
These two notes correspond, no doubt, to the views of
the milder and more spiritual Doukhobdrs on the one
hand, and the more rigid and logical Doukhobdrs on the
other. Looked at from another aspect, these different
statements of their views may to some extent have corre
sponded, on the one side, to what they dared to say, and,
on the other, to what they wished to say.

(2) Our souls existed and fell before the creation qf the material
universe ; they are sent here as to a prison — as a punishment, and for
their reformation. The sin of Adam is, like the rest of the Bible
stories, figurative. His sin does not pass to his descendants, but each
man has sinned for himself.

(3) The Divinity of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, as shown in the Old
Testament, was nothing but Wisdom revealed in nature ; but in the
New Testament He was the Spirit of piety, purity, etc., incarnate. He
is born, preaches, suffers, dies, and rises again spiritually in the heart
of each believer.
Here, again, there is no denial of the Jesus who lived
in Palestine 1900 years ago, and it is open to anybody
using this phraseology to think what they like about him.
But the emphasis is laid on the "Christ within." And
the same cause of confusion is present here as was present
in earlier Quaker doctrine. Whenever people use the
same word for two different things (e.g. for Jesus of
Nazareth and for the spirit which actuates man's con
science) they are in danger of not quite knowing what
they mean themselves.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 15
In another part of his book, Novitsky remarks that
some Doukhobdrs of his day said of Jesus Christ that
" He is the Son of God, but in the same sense in which we also are
Sons of God. Our elders know even more than Christ did : go and hear
them." Of miracles they said, " We believe that he performed mir
acles; we ourselves were dead in sin, blind, and deaf, and he has
raised us up, pardoned our sins and given us his commandment ; but
of bodily miracles we know nothing."
It would be easy on other points to give similar
instances of the fact that the Doukhobdr faith admitted
of considerable divergence of view.

(4) For our salvation it is not essential to have an external know
ledge of Jesus Christ ; for there is the inward word which reveals him
in the depths of our souls. It existed in all ages, and enlightens all who
are ready to receive it, whether they be nominally Christians or not.

(5) Those enlightened by the spirit qf God will after death rise
again, — what will become of other people is uncertain. It is the soul
and not the body that will rise, said the Tambof Doukhobors, while
the Ekaterinoslaf Doukhobors mentioned a body also, but a new,
heavenly body.
Desires reaching man through his senses qf hearing, seeing, smelling,
tasting, or touching, including seanial desire, sow the seeds of future
torment. The craving for honours now torments the ambitious man,
and the craving for drink the drunkard — but much more will those
who have sown the seeds of such desire be tormented in the future life,
when they will not be able to gratify the passions which will nevertheless
grow stronger and stronger.
The fire of abuse and contempt will burn and torment those who
have striven for honours ; the fire of aversion, shame, and loathing mil
be the consequence qf impure love ; and the flames of fmy, enmity,
revenge, rancour, and implacability will punish anger.
If this is the result of sowing evil passions in this life, on the other
hand the result qf sowing good seed will be continued growth towards
perfection till the purified souls become like God Himself.

(6) Our bodies are cages restraining and confining our souls, and

16 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
as the passions sow the seeds of evil, we should deny our lower selves,
forego what pleases our senses, and thus weaken their power over our
souls. " If the desire for fame is condemned among them, yet more,"
says Novftsky in another place, " is luxury in food or dress, because
luxury, indulging the flesh, strengthens it to stifle the inward light
coming from above."

(7) Inasmuch as all men are equal, and the children qf God do
good willingly, without coercion, they do not require any government or
authority over them. Government, if needed at all, is needed only for
the wicked.* To go to war, to carry arms, and to take oaths — is forbidden.
"Regarding war as a forbidden thing, they say they have set them
selves a rule not to carry arms," remarks Novitsky.

(8) The Church is a society selected by God Himself. It is invisible
and is scattered over the whole world ; it is not marked externally by any
common creed. Not Christians only but Jews, Mohammedans and
others may be members of it, if only they hearken to the inward word ;
and therefore —

(9) The Holy Scriptures, or the outer word, are not essential for the
sons qf God. It is, however, of use to them because in the Scriptures,
as in nature and in ourselves, they read the decrees and the acts of the
Lord. But the Scriptures must be understood symbolically to represent
things that are inward and spiritual. It must all be understood to
relate in a mystical manner to the Christ within.

(10) The Christ within is the only true Hierareh and Priest.
Therefore no external priest is necessary. In whomever Christ lives,
he is Christ's heir, and is himself a priest unto himself. The priests
qf temples made with hands are appointed externally, and can perform
only what is external: they are not what they are usually esteemed
to be. The sons of God should worship God in spirit and in truth, and, there
fore, need no external worship of God. The external sacraments have
no efficacy ; they should be understood in a spiritual sense. To baptize
* Their doctrine " reaches even to social intercourse among people :
external position lias no importance, for by nature all men are akin and
equals jme of another."

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 17
a child with water is unbecoming for a Christian ; an adult baptizes
himself with the word qf truth, and is then baptized, indeed, by the true
priest, Christ, with spirit and with fire.
True Confession is heartfelt contrition before God, though we may
also confess our sins one to another when occasion presents itself.
The external Sacraments ofthe Church are offensive to God, for
Christ desires not signs but realities ; the real communion comes by the
word, by thought, and by faith.
Marriage should be accomplished without any ceremonies ; it needs
only the will qf those who have come of age and who are united in love
to one another, the consent of the parents, and an inward oath and vow,
before all-seeing God, in the souls of those who are marrying, that they
will to the end oftheir days remain faithful and inseparable. An
external marriage ceremony, apart from the inward marriage, has no
meaning : it has at most this effect, that, being performed before wit
nesses, it maintains the bond between the spouses by the fear of shame
should they break the promise qf fidelity they have given.
The Priesthood is not an office reserved for specially selected people.
Each real Christian, enlightened by the word, may and should pray to
God for himself, and should spread the truth that has been entrusted to
him. " What am I, then ? A temple to the Lord most high.
The Altar and the Priest, the Sacrifice am I.
Our Hearts the Altars are ; our Wills the Offering ;
Our Souls they are the Priests, our Sacrifice to bring."
The forms qf worship of all the external Churches in the world, their
various institutions, all the ranks and orders of their servants, their
costumes and movements, were invented after the time of the Apostles —
those men qf holy wisdom — and are in themselves naught but dead signs,
mere figures and letters, externally representing that sacred, invisible,
living and wise power of God, which (like the sun's rays) enlightens and
pervades the souls of the elect, and lives and acts in them, purifying
them, and uniting them to God.
To pray in temples made with hands is contrary to the injunction
ofthe Saviour : " When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber,
and having shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret."
(Matt. vi. 6.)
Yet a son qf God need not fear to enter any temples — Papal,
Greek, Lutheran, Calvinist, or other : to him they are all indifferent,
taught Sylvan Kolesnikof, whom the Ekaterinoslaf Doukhobors at
C

18 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the end of the eighteenth century looked upon as the founder of
their sect.
His successors went a step further and added that, aU the cere
monies ofthe Churches, being useless, were much better left alone.

(11) Icons they do not respect or worship, but consider as idols.
The Saints may be respected for their virtues, but should not be
prayed to.
Fiuting should consist in fleeing from lusts and refraining from
superfluities. The Decrees of the Churches and the Councils should not be
accepted.

(12) The Church has no right to judge or to sentence any one ; for
it cannot know all man's inward, secret motives.

Such is Novitsky's account of the faith of the Dou
khobors. Writing in condemnation of their opinions, and
ever ready to attribute any evil he notes among them to
the effects of their unorthodoxy, he yet bears witness as
follows : — " To the credit of the Doukhobdrs, one must
say that they are sober, laborious, and frugal; that in
their houses and clothing they are careful to be clean and
tidy ; that they are attentive to their agriculture and
cattle-breeding, occupations which have been and still are
their chief employment."
He bears no testimony to their having been vegetarians
or total abstainers from intoxicants in his time, though he
alludes to the food and drink question more than once.
With reference to their disapproved of war, besides a clear
statement of their principles, he incidentally mentions more
than one instance of Doukhobdrs refusing the army-service.
For instance : " In 1820, when some Doukhobdrs taken as
recruits refused to take the oath or to serve because it
was contrary to their religion, the Council of State

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 19
decreed : ' without releasing them from any State obliga
tion, to abstain from compelling them to take the oath
in any form or manner whatever ' ; and this enactment,"
remarks Novitsky, "was Imperially confirmed for ever."
Read to-day in connection with the history of the recent
persecution, the remark reads rather strangely.
As became a member of the Orthodox Russian Church,
writing a book that was to issue from the printing-press of
the Kief-Catacomb Monastery, Novitsky is emphatic as to
the failings of the Doukhobdrs ; but the evident care with
which his account is compiled, and the fact that the faults
he attributes to them are those to which they are most
prone to-day, entitle him to be heard on the matter.
He says that superstition, anger, and quarrels were
prevalent among them, and "the distinguishing trait in
their character is obstinacy in their doctrine, insubordina
tion to the Authorities, insults and slanders towards those
who differ from them." " They are very eager to get
money." "They consider themselves more enlightened
than all who differ from them." (Which, by the way,
is a trait not peculiar to Doukhobdrs.)
Since they have been collected into one community,
he reports "the dissensions and agitations whereby they
formerly so often disturbed the public order have ceased,
but the sect itself has seethed and surged with many
passions." " Formerly the Doukhobdrs expelled certain members
from their community for certain acts : to-day such expul
sions no longer occur ; but if any one in their opinion does
not quite partake of the Spirit, such a one is subjected to
slander, and in consequence, under various pretexts, is
greatly persecuted."
It is, at the present day, remarkable to what an extent

20 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the will of the individual Doukhobdr appears to be sub
jected to the communal conscience. And the suggestion
of a certain amount of social tyranny as one of the
agencies which have made them what they now are,
should not be entirely put aside, even after full allowance
has been made for the unifying effects of a common, simple,
and laborious life, among religious and serious people.
Of the fact that, in common with many other religious
disputants, they were not above twisting facts to suit their
theories, Novitsky gives the following instance : —
"Affirming to strangers not belonging to their sect
that they have no need of an external revelation, they will
state that they have no Bible among them; yet, to all
questions put to them concerning their faith, they reply
with words chosen from the Holy Scriptures."
If they were more cautious than most Christians of
asserting the Incarnation of Jesus, they had, according to
Novitsky, less hesitation in attributing divinity to other
"sons of God." "It is known," says he, "that in 1816
they chose Kapoiistin" (who was their Leader though
Novitsky does not mention this), " and on holidays bowed
before him as before the Deity." " They have many other
superstitious customs, which, however, they diligently hide
from other people."
Of the theory and intention of their community
Novitsky says : " And thus it is an Ultra-Theocracy, in
which everything, not only in the inner life of the Christian,
but also in the external life of the citizen, is to take place
under the immediate control, and with the co-operation,
of the Deity Himself, by means of inward, universal
inspiration and revelation from above."
As to the gap which existed — and always exists —
between what was aimed at and what was achieved.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 21
Novitsky is explicit enough. But his account leaves the
impression that then, as now, the sect had less of violence,
crime, vice, poverty, superstition, luxury or wretchedness
among them than was common among their neighbours.
And if we are to compare creed with creed, let us be
careful also to compare people with people. If only men
in general would compare what they themselves are doing
with what other people are aiming at (instead of doing
just the opposite and contrasting their own ideals with
the results attained by others), there would be more
humility and toleration even in our opinion of the
heathen Chinee.
In practice the Doukhobdr Theocracy became, in course
of time, a one-man power, based to some extent on custom,
also partly on superstition, and more absolute than most
monarchies. The rejection of all Church rites has not prevented the
establishment, by custom, of meetings for worship, with
forms as definite and as strictly maintained as those of
most Churches.
But with all their limitations and deficiencies, with
their history for nearly a century before us, one may
fairly say of the Doukhobdrs that (except in times of
external persecution) without any Government founded
on force, they have managed their affairs better than their
neighbours have done : with no army or police, they have
suffered little from crimes of violence ; and without priests
or ministers, they have had more practical religion, and
more intelligible guidance for their spiritual life. Without
doctors or medicine or bacteriologists (and though ignorant
even of the first principles of ventilation) they have been,
on the average, healthier and stronger than most other
races. Without political economists, wealth among them

22 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
has been better distributed, and they have (apart from the
effects of persecution) suffered far less from extremes of
wealth and poverty. Without lawyers or written laws,
they have settled their disputes. Without books, they
have educated their children to be industrious, useful,
peaceable, and God-fearing men and women, have
instructed them in the tenets of their religion, and
taught them to produce the food, clothing, and shelter
needed for themselves and for others.
As a community they are to-day abstainers from
alcohol, non-smokers, and, for the most part, vegetarians.
Their vegetarianism seems to have been strict during the
persecution from 1895 to 1898, but to have relaxed in
Canada, where some of them are located near lakes or
rivers teeming with fish which they catch and eat.
Their doctrine that men gifted with reason and con
science should not use physical violence one to another,
but should influence one another by the appeal of mind to
mind and of soul to soul, is essentially anarchistic (in the
best sense of that word), and it is naturally disliked by all
authorities whose reliance is on sword or truncheon. In
Russia the alliance between Church and State is exceed
ingly close. The "render unto Csesar " text is worked
even harder than among ourselves, and is held to imply
that the rendering imto Ccesar of heart and mind and
soul and strength is a virtue. "The powers that be"
are held to be not merely " ordained by God," but to be
approved of by God, whatever line of conduct they pursue.
To resist them is to resist God, and their most iniquitous
proceedings are as sacrosanct in the eyes of the official
Church as any war policy of an English Government is
in the eyes of pot-house patriots, or of a majority of our
own priests and bishops.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 23
Under these circumstances it is not strange that the
measure of toleration extended under Alexander I. was
not of long duration. Possibly the folly or misconduct
of certain Doukhobdrs afforded an excuse ; but, at any rate,
the Doukhobdrs were ultimately banished from the " Milky
Waters " to the Wet Mountains in Georgia.
A Committee of Ministers held in Petersburg on
February 6, 1826, with reference to a project of trans
porting to the Caucasus some Cossacks who had become
Doukhobdrs, expressed the opinion that: "The utility
of this measure is evident; being transported to the
extreme borders of the Caucasus, and being always con
fronted by the hillsmen, they must of necessity protect
their property and families by force of arms." In fact,
the probability seemed very great that in the Caucasus,
where war was continually going on, the Doukhobdrs
might be exterminated unless they abandoned their
principles. Some fifteen years later this plan of transportation
was applied to the main body of the Doukhobdrs, but,
when carried out, its results were not what had been
expected. The wild hill tribes were favourably impressed by their
non-resistant neighbours, who, when molested, neither
retaliated nor sought police protection ; and on coming
to know the Doukhobdrs, the Mohammedan tribes in their
vicinity decided that they were a worthy people deserving
protection, and that they were certainly not Christians.
"We know the Christians," said they; "the Christians
always fight." These new-comers evidently belonged to
a better religion, for they tried to return good for evil.
So the Mohammedans concluded that this sober, God
fearing, industrious folk were inheritors of the True

24 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Faith, which they — the ignorant Mohammedan natives of
the district — had forgotten or neglected.*
The climate of the Wet Mountains was severe. Situate
six thousand feet above the sea-level, wheat could not be
cultivated, and even barley grew there with difficulty.
But the Doukhobdrs, by industry, mutual helpfulness,
and simplicity of life, succeeded in prospering; and as
time went on they spread out, and fifty years later we find
them numbering some twenty thousand people settled in
three parts of the Caucasus. One of the settlements was
in that part of what used to be Georgia, now known as the
Tiflis Government ; another was in the Elizavetpdl Govern
ment, and a third in Russian Armenia, now called the
" Kars Territory." They occupied themselves in agri
culture, in breeding cattle, and as waggoners, and one
way or another they prospered and became a well-to-do
peasantry. After the death of Loukerya Vasilyevna Kalmikdva,
who for many years after the death of her husband acted
as the Chieftainess of the Doukhobdrs, a quarrel arose as
to the disposal of a considerable property which had been
in her charge. The majority (the "Large Party") of
the Doukhobdrs acknowledged Peter Verigin as the real
heir to the Leadership, and to the charge of the com
munal property. Others (the " Small Party ") sided with
L. V. Kalmikdva's brother, who claimed the management
of the estate. Appeal was made to the Russian law.
This indicates how bitter the dispute was, and how far
the Doukhobdrs had strayed from their principles, for no
* The authenticity of this story iB doubtful. It was current among
those who sympathized with the Doukhobor migration, but I am afraid
it hardly tallies with what little is authentically known of the relation
of the DoukhobdrB to other sects and tribes. (1904.)

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 25
use of the Russian law-courts had been made by them for
some fifty years previously. The property was adjudged to
belong to L. V. Kalmikdva's brother, and the Doukhobdrs
split into two hostile groups.
Since they first settled at the " Milky Waters " they
have had six Leaders —
1. Savely Kapoustin.
2. Vasily Kalmikdf.
3. Ilaridn Kalmikdf.
4. Peter Kalmikdf.
5. His wife, L. V. Kalmikdva.
6. Peter Verigin.
Against the second and third of these, grave but un
verified charges have been made. As already mentioned,
the manner of selection of these Leaders, and the degree
of authority wielded by them, is a knotty point. Accord
ing to some accounts, the Doukhobdr Leaders have (like
so many other rulers) left much to be desired in the way
of sexual morality. This, if true, is all the more remark
able because the Doukhobdrs are far from being loose in
such matters. It would, I believe, not be easy to find a
body of people equally large, among whom there is less
immorality, or among whom the family bond is more
regarded. Whether any special relaxation of the moral
law, such as that which Mohammed claimed for himself,
or such as is often allowed to the members of our royal
families, was accorded to the Doukhobdr Leaders, I am
unable to say. There seems to be something mysterious
about the matter, which the Doukhobdrs are reluctant to
have investigated even by those who sympathize with them
in their general views.
Verigin, though said to have been wild in his youth,

26 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
has since showed himself to be a man of capacity and
has taken an interest in questions of religion and morality.
He prompted a marked religious revival in the sect, among
the outward manifestations of which were a redistribution
of possessions, the reintroduction of communist practices,
strict abstinence from strong drinks and tobacco, the
destruction of all such arms as any of the Doukhobdrs
of the Large Party possessed, and an adherence to non-
resistant principles.
This brings us to a crisis in the history. The Con
scription, by which almost all healthy adult males became
liable for army service, was introduced into the Caucasus
in 1887. At first the Doukhobdrs complied with the law
and let their young men enter the army, warning them,
however (it is said), not to become murderers, and to be
sure, if they had to go to battle, to shoot high so as not
to hit anybody.
They had for many years lived at peace with the
authorities. It is, therefore, not surprising that it took
them some time to muster resolution to refuse Conscrip
tion. But when the revival among the " Large Party "
took place, the question of war and army service was re
considered, and it was agreed among them that they
would no longer learn to slay their fellow-men. They
thus came into line, on this matter, with the Quakers, the
Mennonites, the Austrian sect of Nazarenes, the other
non-resistant bodies, and with the opinions they had
themselves professed, and to some extent practised, in
the eighteenth century.
Characteristically enough, among the Doukhobdrs the
decision to refuse army service was taken in consequence
of a message sent early in 1895 by Peter Verigin. He
had been exiled to Kola in the Government of Archangel,

PETER VERIGIN: THE LEADER (1903.)

Plate II.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 27
but, as he found means to continue to influence the Dou
khobdrs from that place, his removal to still less accessible
quarters near the mouth of the 6bi in Siberia was decided
on. On his way from Kdla to Siberia he was brought to
Moscow, and was there visited by Doukhobdrs, through
whom he sent the message referred to.
A severe persecution was the result of the refusal. It
is difficult to apportion the blame between the Petersburg
Government and the local authorities, but it is clear that
the latter commenced the persecution, and to some extent
misreported what they had done to the higher authorities.
It must be admitted that the Government found them
selves in a very uncomfortable position. The more clearly
the thought that men should help and not harm each
other is expressed, the more certainly it is seen to be
true. The more sincerely the spirit of Christianity is
considered, the more plainly is it seen to make for peace
and good will, even towards enemies and foreigners. These
thoughts, when backed by the example of men willing to
be killed rather than to kill others, spread quickly. Cases
had occurred in which guards escorting sectarians who
were non-resistants, were converted by their prisoners on
the road, or on board ship, on their way to Sagalin,
and the fact that the whole military machine may some
day go to pieces began to suggest itself to those in power.
To continue persecution under such circumstances is
dangerous, yet to allow exemptions on religious grounds
is hardly, possible in a military empire. Were the Dou
khobdrs exempted from Conscription, they would probably
soon out-number the Orthodox. For, in general, the
Russian peasant, struggling to escape from the constant
danser of famine, no more wishes to have his son taken
for army service, than our famine-threatened subjects in

28 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
India wish to be taxed for the maintenance of a scientific
north-west frontier to guard against those same poor
Russian peasants.
The authorities were face to face with the fact that a
compact body of men, numbering several thousands, had
adopted peace-at-any-price principles, and were asserting
that it is wrong for men to kill one another. As among
us there is no longer any question of the comparative cost
of slave-labour versus wage-labour,* but we, as a matter
of principle, have renounced all right to own our fellow
men, so it was no question of expediency with the Dou
khobdrs : they decided the matter on the ground that a
man should be ready to die rather than to do wrong, and
that to slay our fellow-men is wrong. Not even the power
of the Russian Empire could induce them to yield the
point. They no more shrank from being peaceful at any
price, than the best men among us shrink from being
honest at any price, or truthful at any price.
The first Doukhobdrs to suffer in this recent persecu
tion were those who were serving in the army at the time.
They laid down their arms, explaining that, as Christians,
they could no longer learn war. But it is the very
essence of the military system that when once a man has
taken oaths of allegiance and obedience, he ceases to be
a free man actuated by reason and conscience, and
becomes an automaton ;
" Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to " — bill or die.
And it was only natural that soldiers who still ventured
* The reader will please remember that this was written in 1901,
before anything was heard of the restrictions under whioh indentured
Chinese labourers now work in our South African gold mines.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 29
to question the right and wrong of what they were
doing, should be court-martialled. The first twelve
tried were sentenced to confinement in the Ekaterino-
grad penal-battalion, and were there subjected to a long
series of continually renewed punishments — floggings, con
finement in a cold, dark cell, a diet of bread and water,
and many other hardships. In August 1896, Michael
Sherbinin died, done to death by floggings and by the
brutal treatment accorded to him in the penal-battalion
gymnasium. He was not the first or by any means the
only martyr among the Doukhobdrs who suffered violent
death for his principles. But the wind bloweth where it
listeth — and neither oaths of allegiance nor the stupefying
effects of discipline can be depended on permanently to
shut out from men's hearts and minds the ideals of the
prophets and the aspirations of the saints. When the
test came, events showed that among these common,
illiterate Doukhobdrs, along with obvious faults and
limitations of their own, their dwelt a large measure of
the spirit of martyrs and the courage of heroes ; and so
wonderful are the workings of the holy spirit, that those
whose faults and limitations in ordinary life may be
patent to all candid observers, may yet be found faithful
unto death in the day of trial.
At last, in the autumn of 1896, an order was issued
that those who refused military service on religious
grounds should not be kept in military places of detention.
Since then the fate of those who, being already soldiers,
refused to serve (as also of many who refused to enter the
army), has been strangely various. Many were punished
with different degrees of severity — imprisonment, banish
ment for various terms, and floggings of various degrees,
while a few escaped almost free from punishment. Some,

30 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
unable to withstand the pressure put upon them, yielded
to the demands made.
The authorities were much perplexed how to act,
and their chief anxiety was lest the news of what was
going on should spread. The Russian press was forbidden
to allude to the matter, and any outsider found visiting
the Doukhobdrs was expelled. Among those thus expelled
was Captain Arthur St. John, who visited them in the
Caucasus, and afterwards went both to Cyprus and to
Canada on their behalf.
The Doukhobdrs were not without their sympathizers,
even among the officials. Take, for instance, the follow
ing passage from Christian Martyrdom in Russia, de
scribing the trial of seven Doukhobdrs for refusing to
draw lots at the Conscription of 1895 in the town of
Dushet. It is but one among many cases that could be
quoted :
" The Judge : ' And why do you refuse ? '
" Glagdlief : ' Because we do not wish to enter the
military service, knowing beforehand that such service is
against our conscience, and we prefer to live according to
our conscience and not in opposition to it. . . . We
would not draw lots because we do not wish to have any
share in a business which is contrary to the will of God
and to our conscience.'
" The Judge : ' The term of service is now short ; you
can soon get it over and go home again. Then they will
not drag you from court to court, and from prison to
prison.' " Glagdlief : ' Mr. Judge, we do not value our bodies.
The only thing of importance to us is that our consciences
should be clear. We cannot act contrary to the will of

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 31
God. It is no light matter to be a soldier, and to kill a
man directly you are told. God has once for all im
pressed on the heart of each man, " Thou shalt not
kill." A Christian will not only not learn how to
kill, but will never allow one of God's creatures to be
beaten.' " Then said the Judge, ' But, nevertheless, we cannot
do without soldiers and war, because both you and others
have a little property, and some people are quite rich ;
and if we had no armies and no soldiers, then evil men
would come, and thieves, and would plunder us, and with
no army we could not defend ourselves.'
" Then Glagdlief replied, ' You know, Mr. Judge,
that it is written in the Gospels, " Lay not up for your
selves treasure upon earth." We have obeyed this in
junction, and will hold to it, and therefore shall have no
need to defend anything. Why, ask yourself, Mr. Judge,
how we can keep our money when our brothers need it ?
We are commanded to help our neighbours, so that we
cannot find rest in our souls when we see them in want.
Christ, when he was on earth, taught that we should
feed the hungry, give shoes to those who have none, and
share with those who are needy.'
" Then the Judge began to inquire into our circum
stances, and asked how we were getting on, and how the
country suited us, all about the distraint, and the Cossacks
striking the women and old men, and their outraging the
young women, and expressed great astonishment that
soldiers, whose duty it was to protect us, could turn
themselves into brigands and murderers.
" Then said Glagdlief, ' We see from this, Mr. Judge,
that an army does not in the least exist for the protection
of our interests, but in order that our savings may be

32 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
spent on armaments, and that it is of no use in the world
but to cause misery, outrage, and murder.'
" Then the Judge, who had listened to it all attentively,
was greatly moved and distressed by all the cruelties
which had been practised on the Doukhobdrs. He con
demned us, according to some section or other of the
Code, to a fine of three roubles, and himself advised us
not to pay it.
" He talked a great deal more to us, and questioned
us, and said, as he dismissed us, ' Hold fast to that com
mandment of the Lord's.'
"We went to the inn to dine and see our friends,
and before we had had any dinner, the Judge came to
see us, and brought us two roubles, in case we had nothing
to eat. We endeavoured to decline the money, saying,
' We do not want it. Thank God, to-day we shall have
enough.' But he begged us to accept it as the offering
of a pure heart, and made in sincerity, and then we took
it as from a brother, and after thanking him, and bidding
him farewell, went away. He showed us where he lived,
expressed a wish to know more of us, and begged us to
come and talk with him."
That men who refuse military service should be
imprisoned, beaten, and sometimes killed, is what occurs
in other countries where Conscription is enforced. If,
as is now often suggested, the English Government
introduces that system, it, too, will have to decide whether
those who refuse to bow the knee to Mars among ourselves
shall be shot or merely sent to penal servitude.
What was peculiar about the persecution of the Dou
khobdrs was the fact that, besides the punishment of those
who actually refused to bear arms, one whole settlement —

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 33
of some four thousand people, men, women, and children —
was broken up and dispersed, and the people reduced to
such straits that about one thousand of them died off in
a period of less than three years, before permission was
given them to leave Russia.
As often happens, the final collision did not occur
because the one side were all good and the other all bad.
In two of the districts where Doukhobdrs were settled, the
Russian authorities perpetrated no barbarity as bad as
those about to be described ; but in the Tiflis Government,
where the enmity between the " Large Party " and " Small
Party," though it stopped short of manifesting itself by
physical violence, was extremely bitter, the authorities
were perplexed by the mutual recriminations of the Dou
khobdrs, and being misled by false reports, suspected the
" Large Party " of a design to seize the communal property
by force. A night (the eve of the Name-day of their Leader,
Peter Verigin) at the end of June (old style) 1895,
was appointed by the Doukhobdrs of the " Large Party,"
on which to burn their arms in evidence of their firm
resolve not to use physical force against any of their
fellow-men. Their preparations appeared suspicious to
the authorities, and the Governor sent a summons to the
Doukhobdr elders to appear before him.
A reply was returned, to the effect that they were
engaged in praying, and that he should rather come to
them, seeing that they were many and he but one.
This disrespectful reply confirmed the Governor in
his belief that some conspiracy was on foot. Cossacks
were sent, who flogged the people cruelly with their
heavy whips at the very spot where the fire that had
destroyed their arms was burning out. The Cossacks were

34 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
afterwards quartered on the Doukhobdr villages as on a
conquered people. There the troops misbehaved them
selves in ways customary to soldiers under such conditions.
Finally, the whole of this Doukhobdr settlement was
broken up. Successive lots of the inhabitants had to leave
their houses and well-cultivated land at a few days' notice,
and were then dispersed among the Georgian villages.
From one to five Doukhobdr families were sent to each
village in the district.
Left thus with no houses or land, or means of regular
livelihood, among a population who, for the most part,
were not in the habit of hiring labourers, the position of
these " dispersed " Doukhobdrs was terrible. Sickness,
caused by want and by the sudden change of climate from
highlands to malarial valleys, added to their troubles ; and
the police regulations forbidding them to leave the villages
even to look for work, and imposing all sorts of petty
exactions and inconveniences upon them, — all combined
to create conditions in which a mortality of about ten per
cent, per annum is easily accounted for. They would,
indeed, have perished much more rapidly had not the
Kars and Elizavetpdl Doukhobdrs persevered in rendering
generous assistance, despite the fact that communication
with the " dispersed " Doukhobdrs was prohibited by the
police. The policy of the officials was to cut them off
from communication with the outside world as completely
as possible, and to oblige them to abandon their principles,
by the practical threat of slowly exterminating them should
they refuse to submit.
This policy was never explicitly stated, nor were all the
officials of one mind, on the matter, but it was clearly
the general direction followed in the persecution, and it is
the only statement of policy which accords with, and serves

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 35
to explain, what actually occurred in the Caucasus from
1895 to 1898.
Meanwhile, Leo Tolstoy and his friends were concern
ing themselves in the matter. He wrote articles on the
subject, and, through the medium of the English press,
the facts of the persecution began to be partially known.
lAlready, on 23rd October 1895, The Times published an
ticoount of the Doukhobdrs, vouched for by a letter from
Tolstoy. Publicity was obtained, and publicity is what Govern
ments engaged in persecuting a sect, or exterminating a
people, do not like.
Vladimir Tchertkoff, with two friends, went to Peters
burg and tried to present a petition to the Tsar, whom
they were, however, not allowed to see. After having
their books and papers seized, they were banished from
Russia. While news of the persecution was slowly becoming
public, an inquiry was instituted from Petersburg, and
a General was appointed to investigate the whole matter :
to hear the Doukhobdrs' statement of their own case,
to explain to them their errors, and to offer them
restoration of land and property if they would take
the oaths of allegiance and submit to Conscription. A
number of Doukhobdr elders were summoned to appear
before him. He heard what they had to say, discussed the
matter, did all he could to persuade them to yield by
holding out strong inducements, and ultimately went as
far as most of our own clergy or officials would be prepared
to go : he said that in theory their views were excellent.,
that he* too, would like wars to cease, and all men to live
together in harmony, and that it may some day come to
pass — but that the mistake made by the Doukhobdrs was

36 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
that they wished to do right before other people were
ready for it. " The time," said he, " has not yet come."
" The time, General," replied these illiterate peasants,
"may not yet have come for you — but it has come
for us ! "
That answer expresses the fundamental principle of the
coming reformation. The Scribes and Pharisees of to-day
would have us all believe that our hopes, beliefs, aspira
tions, and conduct should be shaped according to the
decisions of certain external authorities — church dignitaries,
divinely appointed rulers, or representatives of infallible
majorities. Some kind of automatic self-acting evolution
is to decide when any improvement of the existing order
of things may be permissible. Our rulers will legislate
accordingly, and it will be our duty to think, feel, and act
in submission to their decrees ; but, as yet, " the time has
not come," and we must all go on acting wrongly till " the
evolutionary process " does the work of Reform for us.
The other view is, that the ultimate authority in
matters of belier, feeling, and action, is the inward voice —
that divine guidance given us through the medium of
reason and conscience.
The more humbly and faithfully we hearken to that,
the more rapid will be our progress — and that of the
society to which we belong — towards perfection. And
when any man sees the path clear before him " the time
has come," though the authorities of Church and State
should oppose the advance as strenuously as they opposed
the teaching of the early Christians and of the first Pro
testants, or the struggle for religious freedom in England
and for the emancipation of the slaves in America.
The inspiration that breathed on men of old has not
ceased to act, nor has jt ever been confined to any race, or

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 37
age, or class. The Hebrew prophet Isaiah, the Catholic
Saint Francis, the Indian Prince Buddha, the American
tailor John Woolman, the Russian Count Tolstoy, and
the Doukhobdr peasant elder who said " the time has
come for us " — were all, in their degree, led by the holy
spirit and, from time to time, spoke the word of God.
•^ At last, early in 1898, permission to leave Russia was
given to the Doukhobdrs on condition (1) that they should
go at their own expense; (2) that those who had been
called on for military service, and those (including Peter
Verigin) who were in Siberia, should remain to work out
their sentences ; and (3) that if any of them ever returned,
they should be banished to distant parts of Siberi^/
As the Doukhobdrs were an illiterate peasant sect,
ignorant of foreign languages and of geography, of whom
many had been reduced to the verge of starvation, and all
had been impoverished by exactions and by the drain of
supporting the exiled and dispersed, it seemed at first
almost impossible for them to avail themselves of this
permission, more especially as communication between
them and the outside world was continually interrupted,
and all educated people who showed a disposition to assist
them actively, had been banished from the Caucasus.
There was no Moses to lead them to a promised land,
and, though volunteer workers sprang up in different
places, they had no central organization, no common
language, no business manager, and no plan of action.
Each helper gave his services voluntarily, and paid his
own expenses if he could, — if not, the money was scraped
together as best might be. Co-operation established
itself somehow, not without blunders, mistakes, friction,
and even quarrels. People supplied information, made

38 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the matter public, offered suggestions, subscribed funds,
helped and encouraged one another, and did what they
saw their way to do, until 7,363 Doukhobdrs were estab
lished in Canada.
Prince D. A. Hilkdff, a nephew of the Russian Minister
of Ways of Communication (i.e. railways, roads, canals,
etc.), is a man whose Memoirs seem to me to surpass
in interest even those of P. Kropdtkin, another Russian
whose opinions clash with the title to which he was born.
They have, in part, been published both in Russian and
in English, but on our long journeys together I learnt
many incidents of his strange history more exactly;
how, being an officer in the army, he defied his
superiors and refused to make up fictitious accounts of
the provender, etc., supplied to the regiment; how he
carried his point and waged war on a dishonest contractor
of high rank ; how he struck up a friendship with
Samat, who was a Tartar brigand, a murderer, an escaped
Siberian exile, a Russian officer of distinction, an in
fluential official, and " one of the best men I ever knew ;"
how he became popular with his men ; how, after killing
a Turk in battle and capturing his horse, he was un
happy (not, — as he at first thought — because he had
let a better horse escape him, but — as he realized while
lying awake at night — because he had slain a man)
and resolved to leave the army, and, being unable to do
so at once, continued to risk his own life, thoroughly
determined not again to shed blood; how he first made
acquaintance with the Doukhobdrs and learned that icdns
should not be reverenced ; how he left the army and
settled on his estates; how he sympathized with the
peasants — and handed his land over to them ; how
successful he was in practical agriculture ; how he came

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 39
to loggerheads with the district priests, was banished to
the Caucasus, and lived among the Doukhobdrs ; how
grasping and selfish some of them had at that time become,
and how difficult it was to get at their secret religious
beliefs; how (two of his children having been taken
from him to be brought up in Orthodoxy) he was again
banished to a small town in the Baltic Provinces ; how
he was allowed to leave Russia, but forbidden to return,
etc., etc. All this makes up the record of a career the
interest of which is not lessened by the fact that the hero
shares in the faults and the mistakes common to mankind.
On September 1st, 1898, D. A. Hilkdff, the present
writer, and two Doukhobdr families who had come over
as delegates — twelve of us in all — sailed from Liverpool
on our way to Canada to inquire into the feasibility of
a settlement of Doukhobdrs in that country. A very
successful settlement of Mennonites who refused military
service, had been established some twenty years before,
also from Russia; but the southern parts of Canada,
where they settled, are now too fully peopled to allow
of further wholesale migrations being made to the same
districts. On reaching Canada we found the task before us
easier than we had expected. The Canadian Government
is anxious to attract immigrants. Its representatives
with whom we had to do, took much trouble to meet the
unusual circumstances of the case, and gave every possible
assistance. Their inspection of our " sample " Doukhobdrs resulted
in a verdict which was expressed by some one saying : " If
the bulk of your goods are up to sample — send them
along."

40 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
No sooner was it evident that Canada offered a suitable
refuge for the Doukhobdrs than the migration commenced ;
• and before the winter (1899-1900) came on, over 7,000
Doukhobdrs were housed in their new settlements, and by \y
the next winter they were quite as well provided for as
the average agricultural settler is during his first years in
a new country.
One characteristic story of an incident which occurred
soon after the arrival of the Doukhobdrs in America
deserves to be recorded. A Canadian boy, playing with
some Doukhobdr children, was accidentally hurt, and went
home crying to his father. The latter, enraged that the
Russians should have hurt his son, rushed out ; but the
Doukhobdr children had all run away, except one, who
had not been playing, but was placidly sitting near by.
The man kicked this boy so violently that the lad died
from the injuries he received. The Doukhobdrs thereupon
signed a memorial expressing their sorrow at the boy's
death, but asking that the man who killed him should
not be punished.
Such an attitude towards a crime committed in a fit
of stupid passion, surely tends to the diminution of crime
more than any imprisonment or execution would do.
Among the Doukhobdrs themselves, as among all sects
who regard violence as being wrong, crimes of violence
are exceedingly rare.
There is every reason to expect the Doukhobdr settle
ment in Canada to be successful. The people are
anxious to learn English, and help in that important
matter is being rendered them.
Without wishing them to become subject to the
medical superstitions current in our own country, we may
hope that they will, in time, be induced to ventilate their

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 41
houses, and abstain from the ridiculous incantations over
the sick which many of them now practise.
With reference to their children, I think any one who
has seen how obedient, considerate, and quick to be of use
the Doukhobdr children usually are, will be inclined to
admit that most of us have much to learn from these
people on the subject of education. Even regarding in
struction (as apart from education proper), their know
ledge of agriculture and of useful handicrafts, coupled
with a serious attention to religion as a guide to daily
life, are more likely to help them to live useful and happy
lives than any knowledge of vulgar fractions or of the
eccentricities of English orthography could do.
I have told the story of the Doukhobdrs with no wish
to hide their faults or exaggerate their virtues, for I am
convinced that to identify men with principles is to do an
injustice to both. When a schoolboy reduces apples and
pears to shillings and pence he shows that he does not
understand his sum ; and when we confound principles
with people, it shows that we understand neither religion
nor our fellow-men.
As for the Doukhobdrs themselves, who can fail to
feel sympathy and admiration for a folk who have suffered
so much for conscience' sake ? But who can wisely and
reasonably attempt to sum up and give a collective cha
racter to a sect of several thousand living, thinking, feel
ing human beings, whose development and evolution is
going on from day to day, and who now find themselves
in new and unaccustomed surroundings ?
The past history of the sect, and of all sects, warns us
not to expect them either to remain unchanged, or con
stantly to move steadily forward. To the enthusiasm

42 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
and love of the early Christian Church, what venom and
heresy-hunting succeeded ! How the mighty strength of
simple truth, exposing the claims of Rome to dominate
men's minds and consciences, gave place to unhealthy
suspicion, and to the "no-popery" animus which has
since poisoned the minds of many Protestants, generation
after generation ! Or, to take a case yet more closely in
point : how strange it seems that the Quakers, — full of
zeal, earnest, conscientious, and willing to suffer to the
death if need be, rather than yield that obedience to
man which is due only to God speaking in man's heart
and mind — should have spent ten years at the time of their
early, and greatest, enthusiasm, in a most bitter dispute
among themselves as to whether they should, or should
not, wear hats in their religious meetings ! *
For any one to attempt to foretell at what point
temptation will assail the Doukhobdrs would be rash.
The unexpected is what usually happens in such cases.
I have, however, already alluded to one danger. Peter
Verigin appears to be an able man, holding views
similar to those of Tolstoy. Yet if it be true that
many of the Doukhobdrs reverence him with a super
stitious regard rivalling that of Catholics for the Pope,
or Mormons for a Brigham Young, the elements of future
trouble exist in such dependence. Another danger lies in
the fact that the Doukhobdrs have been so much perse
cuted that a rooted distrust of Governments dwells in
their minds. They admit that they have received benefits
from the Canadian Government, but they suspect that
this was only because the Government sees its way to
make something out of them. Every proposal or demand
made by the Government is first of all considered by them
* See F. S. Turner's admirable work, Tlie Qualeers.

A RUSSIAN EXODUS 43
as being possibly the thin end of a Conscription-wedge.
This attitude is the less easy to overcome, because
their fundamental religious belief that men should not
harm each other, clashes with the system of executions,
imprisonments, militarism and wars, upon which all
Governments, as we know them to-day, rest.
Moreover, it happens, unfortunately but not un
naturally, that among the educated people who have
helped the Doukhobdrs (and one or two of whom have
lived with them in Canada) are some who are philosophic-
anarchists, not merely in the sense that they consider that
there is no moral right inherent in majorities (any more
than in hereditary rulers) entitling Governments to do
violence, but in the sense that they nourish an antipathy
to all Governments somewhat similar to that felt by some
rabid Protestants towards all Catholic communities.
Such people feel the truth of what Thoreau wrote in
1849 :—
"Government is at best but an expedient; but most
governments are usually, and all governments are some
times, inexpedient."
But suffering from that sectarian spirit which confines
man's vision to one side of a question, these reformers
seem only able to deal with the matter in the abstract, as
it concerns their inner consciousness. Of what advance
they can help others to make, practically, wisely, and
rightly, they seem to have no notion. Fixing their eyes
on the distant mountain peak, and forgetting to consider
where they start from, or what strength they possess, they
often tumble straightway into the next ditch. They
lose all sympathy with Thoreau when he goes on to
say : " But to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike
those who call themselves no-government men, I ask

44 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
for, not at once no government, but at once a better
government."
But let us try to be just even to the rabid Protestant
or the rabid, though nominally philosophic, Anarchist.
Great wrongs are not perpetrated without producing great
reactions. Many men, not otherwise stupid, can see but
one thing at a time ; when they see that a thing is wrong
they cannot stop to discriminate between people and
principles, or to understand that it is by enlightening
Papists and politicians, rather than by denouncing them,
that progress can be made ; and that, to enlighten people,
much sympathy and kindly consideration of the reason of
their errors is required.
I have allowed myself this final digression because I
believe the tendency to ticket men, and bodies of men, by
this or that collective name, and afterwards to regard the
men as we believe the principles denoted by the said
ticket deserve to be regarded, is a great hindrance to that
progress which will be possible when people learn to think
freely on all subjects, and to feel kindly towards all
men.

CHAPTER II
PREPARATIONS IN CANADA
This chapter is intended to give an account of as much
of the Doukhobdr movement as passed under my own
eyes. Until the summer of 1898 I had never seen a Dou
khobdr, though I had lived many years in Russia and
heard much about them. I was then living at Pur-
leigh, in Essex. Vladimir Tchertkoff, who, besides com
piling a book about them had issued appeals on their
behalf, had also come to live in the neighbourhood. To
Purleigh came Prince D. A. Hilkdff, whose early life
is told in Stadling and Reason's In the Land of Tolstoy.
After leaving the army, foregoing for conscience' sake
what promised to be a brilliant career, and learning
to earn his own living by manual labour, he had been
exiled to the Caucasus, and had there made his home
among some Doukhobdrs ; so that he knew as much of
them, and of their habits and beliefs, as any one not of
their sect.
Two Doukhobdr families had also reached Purleigh, as
pioneers seeking a country to migrate to. They were
Ivdn Ivin with his wife and six children (remarkably
serious, polite, and well-behaved children), and Peter
Mahdrtof with his wife. 45

46 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
An influential committee of the Society of Friends in
London were interesting themselves on behalf of the
Doukhobdrs ; but the project they specially had in view
at this time was one for transporting Doukhobdrs to the
island of Cyprus. Hilkdff, Ivin, and Mahdrtof visited
Cyprus in July, and reported that it was a place alto
gether unsuitable for a Doukhobdr settlement. They
were too late to prevent the temporary migration thither
of 1,126 Doukhobdrs, but they made it plain that some
other country would have to be found for a more perma
nent settlement.
Permission to migrate from the Caucasus had been
given to the Doukhobdrs by the Russian Government in
f March, and they were extremely anxious to move at
once, both because they were harassed by the Russian
authorities, and because they feared that the permission
to migrate might be rescinded. But the month of August
came without anything satisfactory having been arranged.
One circumstance added greatly to the difficulty of
the situation. Vladimir Tchertkoff, as Tolstoy's nominee
in England, was the most influential man in the Tols-
toyan section of the movement, and the one who, apart
from the Friends and their Committee, controlled most of
the money subscribed to assist it. Prince D. A. Hilkdff
was the man who, by knowledge of the Doukhobdrs, by
organizing capacity, and by his willingness to take a
personally active part, was best qualified to direct the
migration. Unfortunately these two proved quite un
able to work together. Their relations, in fact, became
so strained that all direct intercourse between them had
to cease. A similar misfortune befell several other people
who tried to co-operate with Vladimir Tchertkoff, or to
work under his command.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 47
Hilkdff had given away his own estates to his peasants,
and by his banishment from Russia was, for the time
being, unable to obtain other property that had recently
been left him. He was, therefore, at this time, a poor
man ; and to give his time and services gratuitously, and
to go to America as he did, at his own expense, was a
great sacrifice.
Arnold Eiloart (an eccentric member of a queer
Colony that had a brief existence at Purleigh, in Essex,)
provided funds to the extent of some ,£"1200 to assist
the Doukhobdr movement ; and out of this money the
expenses of the above-mentioned visit to Cyprus were
paid, as well as the expenses to America of the two Dou
khobdr delegates with their wives and children. Both
Hilkdff and I accompanied them to America at their
pressing request and at our own expense, to advise and
interpret for them. Prince Hilkdff' shared with the
Doukhobdrs the hardships of a steerage passage, while I
(a bad sailor) went more luxuriously as a first-class
passenger, — feeling much ashamed of myself for such un-
Tolstoyan self-indulgence.
We sailed from Liverpool on 1st September 1898, on
the s.s. Vancouver, and in due course reached Quebec and
Montreal. Having heard but one side of the quarrel, I was, at
first, ill-disposed towards Hilkdff ; but, as I came to know
him better, I learned to admire his ability and to appre
ciate his frank and amiable character.
Our task was, first of all, to find out whether Canada
was a suitable country for the Doukhobdrs to settle in.
This was soon decided iu the affirmative. The next point
was to see what the Canadian Government would do to
help the migration. We found they would give : (1) For

48 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
each male over 18 years of age, 160 acres of good land,
subject to the payment of an entrance fee of $10 (i?2),
which payment could be deferred for three years ; (2)
assistance by Government interpreters, and accommo
dation in Government Immigration Halls, on first arrival
in Canada; and (3) a grant of £1 for each immigrant,
man, woman, or child, reaching Winnipeg by June 30,
J 899. This last payment was an extension of one the
Canadian Government usually makes to the agents of
steam-ship companies, to encourage immigration to
Canada. There being no agents anxious to make money
out of the Doukhobdrs — their place being, in this case,
occupied by men anxious to aid the immigrants — it was
arranged that this " bonus " should go to form a fund
from which the Canadian Government would defray the
expenses of supporting the Doukhobdrs on their first
arrival. The above advantages were such as the Canadian
Government usually grants to all comers (except that the
£1 " bonus " is usually paid only on male adults, and had
been recently suspended in the case of Galicians, of whom
large numbers had come to Canada and to whom much
opposition was just then being shown).*
It soon became clear to Hilkdff and to me that in
making arrangements we could count on but little assis
tance from I vin or Mahdrtof. Everything in Canada was
new and strange to them ; they of course spoke only Rus
sian ; and they were reluctant to take on themselves the
responsibility for any decision. Their usual reply, when
a prompt decision on any point was urgently necessary,
* For details of the arrangements made, the reader is referred to
Appendix I.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 49
was to say : " We cannot decide ; we are not empowered.
Wait until all the brothers " (e.g. the Doukhobdrs) " are
here, and then the matter can be discussed." They did
not appear at all to see the impossibility of bringing some
7,000 people to Canada without any settled plans, and
then beginning a discussion as to where they were to go
and how they should be provided for.
Ultimately we found out that (in addition to the inability
to take independent decisions, natural to men accustomed
implicitly to obey a Leader) Ivin and Mahdrtof were
suspicious that we might be making money out of the
Canadian Government at the expense of the Doukhobdrs.
In the Caucasus Hilkdff* had not lived in the villages to
which Ivin and Mahdrtof belonged, and at Purleigh they
had been under Tchertkoff's influence, though not suffi
ciently so to prevent their inviting Hilkdff to accompany
them to Canada. So now, when they met Polish Jews in
Winnipeg who spoke Russian and were good enough to
invent a selfish motive for Hilkdff 's efforts on their behalf,
such suggestions fell on ready soil. As for myself, I
naturally had but a slight hold on them. They knew
little of me before we started for America, and had asked
my help mainly because I had contributed to the relief of
the Doukhobdrs and spoke the Russian language.
To communicate with the Doukhobdrs in the Caucasus
was a matter of difficulty, delay, and expense. There was
no time for interchange of letters. Cablegrams were
expensive, and we were never sure that the Russian autho
rities would allow letters and telegrams to reach them.
Besides, the Doukhobdrs were scattered in various settle
ments ; many of them were forbidden to leave the spot
they had been sent to ; their Leader was away in exile in
Siberia, and there was no one among them in the Caucasus

50 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
able to take decisions without first calling a meeting of
representatives from the different settlements. What
messages we did receive from the Doukhobdrs were urgent
entreaties to make arrangements as quickly as possible to
enable them to come to America. The Canadian Govern
ment, on its side, naturally wanted some responsible person
to treat with ; and thus the curious result was arrived at :
that Hilkdff and I had, unwillingly, to accept the rdle and
responsibility of plenipotentiaries for people whom I, at
least, knew little of, and whose delegates more or less
distrusted us both.
Hilkdffs thorough knowledge of agriculture, especially
of the kind of agriculture the Doukhobdrs, as well as his
own peasants, were accustomed to, qualified him admirably
for the task of selecting the land.
The conditions of the problem were these : the
Doukhobdrs wished to settle as a compact community,
with lands as much as possible together. This precluded
the selection of such small plots as might have been
obtained south of the Canadian Pacific Railway, where the
cultivation of wheat was known to be practically safe from
danger of being spoilt by frosts ; and it obliged us to look
further north, and to choose land in respect of which
settlers were still somewhat doubtful. The land itself
was excellent, but how far north agriculture (and espe
cially wheat growing) could be safely depended on was a
doubtful question. It appears to be a fact, that as the
country becomes more occupied and more ground is
broken up and cultivated, more of the sun's heat is retained,
and the climate gradually modifies. Settlers also are
obtaining more confidence, and are finding out what can be
safely done, so that to-day (1904) there is a brisk demand
for land which in 1898 was only beginning to be considered

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 51
worth taking up. Other important considerations in
selecting the land were : to secure a good water supply,
and timber to build with, and not to be too far from a
railway. This last point was immediately important to en
able the Doukhobdrs to reach their settlements as quickly
and cheaply as possible ; as well as to bring them within
reach of opportunities to earn money by wage-labour,
and to enable them, later on, to market their produce
advantageously. The first locality we inspected was in the district near
Edmonton, the station furthest north on the railway from
Calgary, in Alberta. Isothermal maps of Canada show that
the temperature is as mild in this part as it is much further
south in Eastern Canada. The Immigration Department
supplied us with all needful information, with competent
guides, free passes on the railways, and conveyances to
drive us where there was no railway. A most promising
location not far from Beaver Lake was selected, where we
wished to take up twelve " townships " of thirty-six square
miles each, and where the whole Doukhobdr community
might have settled contiguously. But, after our return
to Ottawa, this arrangement was upset. A fierce con
troversy was at this time being carried on in Canada as to
the desirability, or otherwise, of Galician immigrants, who
were said to be a very rough and troublesome folk. A con
troversy of that kind in Canada at once becomes a party
question. There is practically no broad difference of
principle between the Canadian "Conservative" and
"Liberal" parties. It is chiefly a battle between the
" ins " and the " outs," in which various railway and other
interests play a part. Consequently, the usual game of
the party newspapers is for the " outs " to attack what
ever the "ins" do, or allow to be done. The Liberal

52 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Government was making efforts to find immigrants to take
up the unoccupied land of the North-West Territories ;
so the Conservative Opposition was ready and eager to
note and exaggerate everything unfavourable about such
immigrants, and to use, as a weapon wherewith to attack
the Government, any prejudice that could be aroused
against them. Unfavourable accounts of the Doukhobdrs
have found their way into various English Encyclopaedias
and books of reference.* Such descriptions furnished the
Opposition press with plenty of ammunition to use
against the Government, and against the proposed immi
gration. As a result, an opposition to the location of the Dou
khobdrs in the Edmonton district sprang up ; pressure was
brought to bear on the Government, and, when we thought
all had been favourably settled, we learnt that we could
not have the land we had selected. The search had to
be recommenced j in other, less tempting, parts of the
country. Time pressed : the messages from the Doukhobdrs
were more and more urgent, and the negotiations with
the Government and the Canadian Pacific Railway were
as yet not concluded. So it was arranged that Prince
* The Century Dictionary, for instance, gives — " Dukhobortsi, one
who denies the divinity of the Holy Ghost (dukhobdrgtvo, a sect of such
deniers). A fanatical Eussian sect, founded in the early part of the
eighteenth century by a soldier named Procope Loiipkin, who pretended
to make known the true spirit of Christianity, then long lost. They have
no stated places of worship, observe no holy days, reject the use of images
and all holy rites and ceremonies, have no ordained clergy, and do not
acknowledge the divinity of Christ or the authority of the Scriptures, to
which they give, in so far as they accept them, a mystical interpretation.
Owing to their murders and cruelties, they were removed to the Caucasus
in 1841 and subsequent years ; they now form a community there of seven
villages."

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 53
Hilkdff, with Ivin and Mahdrtof, should go to select the
land, while I should take on myself the negotiations, and
do what I could, by lecturing and by interviewing news
paper editors, to lessen the prejudice that was springing
up against the Doukhobdrs.
On the train back from Edmonton to Winnipeg I
met Miss Flora Shaw (now Lady Lugard), who was writing
a series of articles on Canada for the Times. I much
enjoyed a conversation I had with her, but was unable
to interest her journalistically in the Doukhobdrs. She
said that to get the British public to care about them, one
would have to find them a handier name. To this I could
only reply that I had already cut down the cumbrous
plural Doukhobdrtsi to the shorter and equally correct
form, Doukhobdrs. A further abbreviation to "Douks"
subsequently came into colloquial use, but had not then
suggested itself, or the Doukhobdr movement might per
haps, in 1898, have obtained some of that wide publicity
for which it had to wait until the "pilgrimages" and
"nudity parades" of 1902 and 1903 secured for the
sect ample recognition in all well-conducted English
newspapers. HilkdfFs part of the work was performed as well as
was possible under the circumstances. It was not possible
to find a location which was both large enough for the
whole Doukhobdr community to settle on, and yet suitable
in all other respects. So three different locations were
selected. These were subsequently called : (1) the North
(or Thunder Hill) Colony ; (2) the South Colony (with
an annex called the Devil's Lake Colony); and (3)
the Saskatchewan Colonies (divided into the Duck Lake
and the Saskatoon Settlements, and called also, by the
Doukhobdrs, Prince Albert Colony). In these settlements

54 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the Doukhobdrs now hold more than six hundred square
miles. Of these, the North Colony is situated just at the
north-east corner of Assiniboia; the South Colony
(measuring from nearest point to nearest point) is some
eighteen miles to the south-west of the North Colony;
while the Saskatchewan Colonies are about two hundred
and fifty miles to the west, or north-west, of the others.
There were some inaccuracies in the Immigration
Department plans showing what land was free and what
was already bespoken ; and this, added to the fact that it
was not known how many Doukhobdrs were coming, or how
they would group themselves, led to some minor mistakes
being made. But, on the whole, the selection made by
Hilkdff has been amply justified by the results, for not
only have the Doukhobdrs been remarkably prosperous,
but they have shown little desire to change the land he
selected for them ; except during the " Pilgrimage " move
ment which broke out in 1902 and induced nearly one-
fourth of them to walk off to meet Christ, and find a land
where they could eat ripe fruit from the trees without
having to " spoil the earth " by cultivating it. They
would no doubt prefer to be more compactly settled in
a single district, but the great thing was to make it as
easy as possible for them to procure subsistence ; and the
sentimental or political motives for keeping the clan
compact had to be subordinated.
During my stay in Canada I met members of the
Government, and of the Immigration staff: the Hon.
Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior ; James A. Smart,
Deputy Minister of the Interior (with whom the negotia
tions were chiefly conducted); W. F. McCreary, Com
missioner of Immigration at Winnipeg, and several others.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 55
From first to last, I was impressed by their prompt and
business-like common sense, their readiness to meet diffi
culties, and the absence of the official hauteur and
dilatoriness so common among Government officials in
Europe. An equal or greater impression of efficiency was given
by the managers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with
whom, next to the Government, it was most important to
come to an arrangement, — the funds available for the
migration not being nearly sufficient to pay the usual
railway fares. After being accustomed to slow Russian
ways, I remember my surprise at the ease with which I —
who was almost without credentials from the Doukhobdrs
themselves — was able to secure attention, and to get so
large an affair satisfactorily arranged.
When in business in Moscow I had, as a Director of
the Russian Carpet Company, been a junior colleague of
G. Marchetti, the acting head of the famous carpet
manufacturers, John Crossley and Sons, of Halifax, Yorks,
whose connections reach to all the continents of the world.
By his kindness I was now furnished with letters of intro
duction to James Morgan, of Montreal, as well as to
representatives or connections of Crossley's in other towns.
In addition to these, I had also a letter from Vladimir
Tchertkoff addressed to whom it might concern, as
follows : —
" Having, in connection with the Doukhobdrtsi emigration plan,
been in correspondence with various persons in America who have
expressed sympathy with this cause, and who desire to contribute to
its furtherance, I wish to inform them that Aylmer Maude, a personal
friend of Leo Tolstoy's and of myself, has very kindly undertaken
to go to America with the special object of trying to pave the way
for such an emigration.
"The success of his efforts will naturally be dependent upon the

56 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
help he receives, and I should like those who have been in communi
cation upon the subject either with Leo Tolstoy or myself, to know
that we have placed the negotiations in America entirely in his
(A. Maude's) hands, and request all who may co-operate in this
undertaking to regard him as possessing our full and unlimited
confidence. "He is accompanied by two delegates from the Doukhobdrtsi
themselves (John Ivin and Peter Mahdrtof), who are competent
representatives of their brethren in the Caucasus. "V. Tchertkoff.
" Purleigh, Essex, England,
"August 31, 1898."
These letters, none of which were from the Doukho
bdrs themselves, were all the credentials I had ; but they
sufficed. On my first arrival in Canada, I reached Montreal late
on Saturday, September 10, and made my way next after
noon to James Morgan's country house, where I met
with a kindly and helpful reception, which was in keeping
with what I repeatedly experienced during my stay in
America. After telling him and Mrs. Morgan the story of
the Doukhobdrs, I was taken to call on his near neigh
bour, R. B. Angus, a Director of the Canadian Pacific
Railway, who, on the Monday, introduced me to Thomas
Shaughnessy (now Sir Thomas Shaughnessy), then Vice-
President of the Company. These gentlemen were
thoroughly aware of the advantage to the railway, that
would result from the settlement of several thousand
industrious peasants by whom, and for the marketing of
whose produce, the C.P.R. line would be used. As a
result of the negotiations then commenced, it was ulti
mately arranged that the C.P.R. should carry the Dou
khobdrs from the coast, i.e. from St. John, New Brunswick
(or from Quebec, should that Port not be frozen up), to

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 57
whatever station west of Winnipeg might be nearest to
their future settlement (for these arrangements were made
before the locations were finally selected), at the rate of
six dollars, or twenty-five shillings, per adult. This was
exceedingly cheap for a journey of considerably over two
thousand miles. The Colonist cars on the C.P.R. are
clean and comfortable, and the trains run the distance
from St. John to Winnipeg at what, for such a journey,
is a very fair rate of speed, taking two days and eighteen
hours, including stoppages, for the whole journey.
Thomas Shaughnessy handed me over to D. McNicoll,
the Passenger Traffic Manager, who offered free passes
along the line to Edmonton for our whole party, and
gave me letters of introduction to various people.
Throughout my journey, I could not help contrasting
the steady, prompt, efficient work done by these officials
and men of business — resulting in benefits to many people
and carried out with consideration and courtesy, — with
the erratic and inefficient exertions of " reformers " of the
virulent type one sometimes meets, whose ardour for
"principles" too often serves as an excuse for much
harshness towards the people they have to deal with.
A matter which concerned both the Government and
the C.P.R., was that of allowing the Doukhobdrs to take
up land in compact settlements without having to buy
" alternate sections " belonging to the railway company.
When the C.P.R. was built, there was no prospect of
parts of the line, which ran through sparsely populated
districts in the west, paying expenses. Yet it was im
portant to unite the country by a railway right across,
from Atlantic to Pacific. So, among other inducements
given to the railway company by the Government of the
day, in consideration of the company undertaking to

58 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
complete the line, was a grant of public land to the quite
excessive amount of 25,000,000 acres.
Manitoba and the North-West provinces are now
mapped out into squares, measuring six miles each way.
Each of these " townships " contains, therefore, 36 square
miles. The " township," again, is divided into " sections "
of 640 acres, or one square mile each. The " quarter
section" of free land, obtainable by each adult male
settler, contains 160 acres. The land belonging to the
railway is distributed in "alternate sections"; that is to
say, the sections of a "township" are numbered con
secutively, the even numbers belonging to the Govern
ment, and the odd ones to the railway, except that two
sections in a township generally belong to the Hudson Bay
Company, and two others are kept for the endowment of
schools. What happens in the usual course is that
settlers take up the free grants of Government land, and
when they want more — or when a group such as the
Doukhobdrs want to make their settlement compact, —
they have to buy the " alternate sections " held by the
railway, at prices which range from about $3 per acre
upwards. To get the Doukhobdrs settled as nearly as possible
en bloc, as they wished to be, without an expenditure
quite beyond their means, it was necessary that the
Government should give the C.P.R. an equivalent else
where for the odd-numbered sections in the " townships "
selected; and that the C.P.R. on their part should con
sent to make such an exchange, and thus let the Doukho
bdrs obtain solid " townships." After some difficulty,
this was satisfactorily effected, except with reference to a
small part of the land allotted.
It is now time to admit the chief mistake I made in

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 59
connection with this migration, and to offer my sincere
apologies to all whom it may concern, and whom I,
unwittingly, misled. It related to the character, and
conduct to be expected of the Doukhobdrs, and I must
begin by explaining how it was that I was myself mis
informed on these points.
Since 1895, I had heard of the existence of the Dou
khobdrs from Tolstoy, and from the circle of his nearest
adherents. Among that circle, a theory prevailed that
the Doukhobdrs were a body of ideally peaceful people,
full of charity even for their enemies, submissive to
exactions whether made by Government or by brigands,
and needing only to be moved to new surroundings to
show that they were, in deed as well as in name, members
of a "Universal Community of Christian Brotherhood,"
who ignored all distinctions of sect, nationality, or race,
and were wise, reasonable men, considerate of others and
easy to get on with. Though they were submissive to all
exactions, we believed that they acknowledged no authority
but that of reason and conscience ; and in practical matters
voluntarily followed the advice of their wisest and best
members. In fact the Doukhobdrs were, in the eyes
of the Tolstoyans, a folk who had well-nigh realized the
Christian ideal ; and it was incumbent on us not merely
to sympathize and help them in the unjust persecution
they were then suffering, but also to assimilate our own
lives and customs to theirs, as much as our own inferior
moral development would allow. They were supposed to
have practically solved the great problem which divides
anarchists from socialists, and to have shown how to
combine complete individual freedom, with equality of
opportunity and material condition, and also with peace
and good order in the life of the community.

60 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Tolstoy himself, it is true, was more reasonable than
his most prominent lieutenants. But he was himself
strongly moved by sympathy for this oppressed peasant
sect, as well as by dislike of conscription, and he hoped that
the collective protest the Doukhobdrs had made against
militarism would have a widespread result. The informa
tion at his disposal was exceedingly one-sided. The
Russian press had been forbidden any discussion of the
Doukhobdr question, and, as always happens in such
cases, the impossibility of hearing both sides of the
matter, led each side to exaggerate its own views. In
the eyes of Russian officialdom, the Doukhobdrs were
hypocritical and fanatical "criminals ; in the eyes of the
Tolstoyans, they were saints and martyrs leading the
very vanguard of Christian humanity. Any one reading
the articles Tolstoy wrote at the time, especially his part
of the appeal entitled Help! will see what I refer to;
nor, after all that has happened, can I help feeling that
Tolstoy, who refused to be silent about what was going
on, who denounced conscription as a degrading and
barbarous slavery, and who helped and cheered the weak
and oppressed, was (in spite of exaggeration and mistakes)
nearer the mark than almost any one else who took
prominent part in the movement, and much nearer the
mark than those who stood aside in cold indifference.
Sincerely accepting the Tolstoyan version of the
matter (and ignorant of faults that have since become
conspicuous), I quite honestly assured Canadians in
general and the Canadian Government in particular, that
the Doukhobdrs would prove, in all respects, admirable
immigrants, would give no trouble, and would readily
agree to the reasonable and useful laws and regulations
unquestioningly accepted by other settlers.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 61
The Canadian authorities were quite explicit about
the conditions on which the Doukhobdrs might come to
Canada. They were to make entry for their homesteads
individually, in the usual Canadian fashion. They would
have to supply vital statistics, conform to the laws of
the country, and pay their taxes. As an inducement to
them to come, it was pointed out that they would have
the advantages of the Militia Act, which says —
" Every person bearing a certificate from the society of Quakers,
Mennonites, or Tunkers, and every inhabitant of Canada of any
religious denomination, otherwise subject to military duty, who
from the doctrines of his religion, is averse to bearing arms and
refuses personal military service, shall be exempt from such service
when balloted in time of peace or war, upon such conditions and
under such regulations as the Governor in Council from time to time
prescribes." This was supplemented by an Order in Council, ex
pressly naming the Doukhobdrs as a sect which was to
have the advantage of this Act. (See Appendix II.)
Another concession made in favour of the Dou
khobdrs was, that they were not required to perform, on
each separate homestead, the work legally necessary before
a homestead can become individual property, but were
allowed to do an equivalent quantity of work on any
part of the " township " they took up; thus .facilitating
their communal arrangements.
The demands and offers of the Canadian Government
were by me communicated to the Doukhobdr delegates
then in Canada, and also to other delegates who had
then arrived in Purleigh. None of them made any
objection, but, on the contrary, all were anxious to hasten
the migration as much as possible.*
* In a subsequent chapter I make considerable use of an interesting,
and generally reliable series of articles that appeared in 1903 in Obrazo-

62 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
To return, however, to the account I gave of the
Doukhobdrs, and to illustrate the kind of statement I
accepted as accurate, I will quote from an " Appeal "
issued by Vladimir Tchertkoff, Paul Birukdff, and John
Tregdubof, in December, 1896 —
" The Doukhobdrs found their mutual relations and
their relations to other people . . . exclusively on love ;
and, therefore, they hold all people equal, brethren. . . .
In all that does not infringe what they regard as the
Will of God, they willingly fulfil the desire of the
authorities." And again, as to their form of Government —
" Several representatives of the majority, and among
them the manager elected to administer the communal
property, were banished." (It subsequently turned out
that the authority of Peter Verigin, their Leader, was not
vanie. They are by " V. Olhovsky," a pseudonym adopted by one of the
Russians, who went out to help the Doukhobdrs settle in Canada. To
the following statement made by him I must, however, take exception : —
" The only undoubted omission made by the person who conducted the
negotiations with the Canadian Government, namely the Englishman, A.
Maude, was that he omitted to ascertain the manner of registering births,
deaths, and marriages, and the form of marriage itself ; obligatory on all
the inhabitants of Canada, but which are such as to run entirely counter
to all the customary law and the religious convictions ofthe Doukhobdrs.
This omission eventually caused great complications in the relations
between the Doukhobdrs and the Canadian authorities, and was the chief
cause of the general agitation and the disturbances the Canadian
DoukhobdrB have recently passed through."
As a matter of fact, I took pains to inform myself on these points, and
passed the information on to the Doukhobdrs whom I was able to reach.
None of them suggested that there would be any difficulty about the
matter ; and what shows conclusively that the demands of the Canadian
law do not run counter, on these points, to any principles regarded by the
Doukhobdrs as fundamental, is the fact that sinoe early in 1903, when
Peter Verigin reached Canada, the Doukhobdrs have quietly conformed
to the law ; rendering vital statistics and registering their marriages.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 63
that of an elected manager, but was of a very different
kind.) Tolstoy had himself written of this Appeal —
" The facts related in this Appeal, composed by three
of my friends, have been repeatedly verified, revised, and
sifted ; the Appeal itself has been several times recast and
corrected;" (Tolstoy's own influence, it should be re
membered to his credit, had been used on the side of
moderation) " everything has been rejected from it which,
although true, might seem an exaggeration . . . here
we have people who have realized this ideal" (i.e. of a
Christian life) "no doubt only in part, and not com
pletely ; but have realized it in a way we did not dream
of doing with our complex State institutions . . . The
main condition of a realization" (of the Christian life)
" is the existence and gathering together of such people
as even now realize that, towards which we are all
striving. And behold, such people exist ! "
Subsequent events showed that, though the Dou
khobdrs are a worthy folk : industrious, cleanly, temperate,
hospitable, thrifty, honest, and careful of their children,
many of them are also ignorant, suspicious, fanatical,
intensely clannish, and, superstitious to the point ol
attributing divinity to their Leader, Peter Verigin — who
was not elected, but was discovered to be the rightful
possessor of the Leadership in some mysterious way never
fully explained to outsiders.
Even during my stay in Canada I began to be sceptical
about the claims to collective saintship set up for the
Doukhobdrs by the Tolstoyans, and I find, in the records
of the movement published at the time, that I wrote —
" They are men with human limitations and deficiencies, and not
the plaster saints I had supposed after reading the literature published

64 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
about them. Being men, they are much more interesting and better
worth helping. Had they been saints, it would have seemed almost
a pity to prevent their being martyrs also.''
One incident that helped to open my eyes was the
conduct of Ivdn Ivin, to whom a sum of money had been
given (out of Eiloart's contribution) under the impression
that — the Doukhobdrs being (as was supposed) all Com
munists — he would share it with his brethren on their
arrival. Ivin, however, we found to be strongly of opinion
that the money had been given to him personally ; and his
resolve to keep it for himself and family upset my belief
in the universality of Communism and brotherhood among
this folk.
Then, again, Hilkdff — though he had not been a
witness of the Doukhobdr religious revival of the last few
years, and therefore was unwilling to deny the reports
supplied by the more ardent Tolstoyans — had seen
in the past enough of the Doukhobdrs to know that there
was often a wide gap between the theory of non-resistance
and their actual practice. For instance, he told a story
dating back to a time when the Russian Government
was forcing on the Doukhobdrs the services of Orthodox
Russian priests. An order was issued that when a
Doukhobdr died he was "not to be buried without a
priest." On one occasion the priest duly arrived to per
form the service at a Doukhobdr funeral, but the
Doukhobdrs, preferring the letter to the spirit of the
decree, are said to have taken him and to have actually
buried the live priest together with the dead Doukhobdr !
I would not have it supposed that Ivin and Mahdrtof
produced a bad impression on those who met them.
Quite the contrary : serious, calm, well-mannered, willing
to put up with inconveniences, they, and especially the

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 65
obedient, active, and polite children, produced a very good
impression on the Canadians.
During a couple of weeks while Hilkdff was prospect
ing, I took an opportunity to visit the United States.
First, however, I went, at his request, to see James Mavor,
Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional History
at the University of Toronto, who had done more than
any one else to interest the Canadian Government in the
Doukhobdrs before the arrival of our party. He had
received accounts of them from Peter Kropdtkin, another
good friend of theirs, and a great admirer of Communal
customs. James Mavor took me to lunch one day with
Goldwin Smith: a fine type of the old-fashioned
English gentleman transferred to a Canadian home. He
spoke interestingly of the days when he and Lord
Robert Cecil (afterwards Lord Salisbury) had co-operated
in starting the Saturday Review. Lord Salisbury, as
Goldwin Smith knew him in those days, would have
had no sympathy whatever with the later developments
of imperialism; and our host spoke, with a stimulating
and healthy scorn, of recent attempts to extend civilization
"by exterminating the wild grafts of humanity."
I went on to Chicago to visit Miss Jane Addams, whom
I had met in Moscow two years before, and to see her
admirable Social Settlement at Hull House, in a poor dis
trict thronging with immigrants new to American life and
needing all the sympathy and help the occupants of Hull
House can afford them.
Throughout the movement I had steadily refused
personally to accept contributions for the Doukhobdrs.
Here in Chicago, however, I had to make an exception
to my rule, for Miss Mary R. Smith, Miss Jane Addams'
niece, had raised (from her own family and her private
F

66 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
purse) a sum of $200, and, hearing that Hilkdff was in
danger of having to abandon his useful work for lack of
funds, wished me to transmit this money to him that he
might be enabled to prolong his stay in America.
My visit to Hull House has left a strong and very
pleasant impression on my mind. Many memories crowd
back, as I think of that visit. They include a call
on Henry Demarest Lloyd, who, by the way, was too
strongly socialistic to appreciate Tolstoy's individualism.
I was fortunate, also, in meeting many other in
teresting people in Chicago. Besides the residents at
Hull House, I there met Professor G. D. Herron, who
was lecturing on " the social sacrifice of conscience " ;
John P. Gavit, of the Commons Settlement; and
Albertson and Gibson, leaders of the " Christian Com
monwealth" in Georgia — an attempt in which Tolstoy
took an interest, but which, like its counterpart in Pur
leigh, was destined soon to collapse, involving many of its
members in distress and disappointment. I also attended
a meeting called to discuss What is Art? which had just
appeared, and was, I think, attracting more attention in
Chicago than it had done in London.
To Miss Addams I owe a modification of my under
standing of one of the great problems dealt with by
Tolstoy.. Non-resistance, as I had it from Tolstoy, and
as it is held by many Russian Dissenters, is a rule of con
duct forbidding the use of physical force, and involving a
variety of wide-reaching conclusions: disapproval of all
Governments, police, voting, property, public law, etc.
Non-Resistance, as practised by Miss Addams, is
something else. It is an attitude of mind, and not
a rigid rule. A burly policeman stood near the Settle
ment door — a friend to those who came there.
79

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 67
Had the policeman arrested anybody, Miss Addams
would have wished to understand and help the prisoner
if she could, though she would not necessarily have
wished to let him loose upon society, regardless of con
sequences. So, also, her opposition to a "boodling"
Alderman of that Ward was not malicious. The motive
prompting her strongly to oppose his election was not
hatred of the wrong-doer, or blindness to such good
qualities as he possessed, but it was pity for the poor,
who were being robbed. Hull House went into municipal
politics reluctantly, but it went in all the same, feeling
that it could not see the City defrauded without trying
to right matters, and to protect those too weak or
ignorant to protect themselves. The Tolstoyan non-
resistant " principle " is a rigid rule, from which, when
treated as an axiom, deductions can be drawn which are
logical without being reasonable (for the axiom from
which they start is not perfectly sound). Miss Addams'
Non-Resistance, on the other hand, is a habit of mind that
makes love and pity the motive of reform, but does not
necessarily bar out the benevolent and beneficent use of
physical force.
I remember, when I first met Miss Addams in Russia,
arguing with her in favour of a Tolstoyan understanding
of Non-Resistance (though even then I boggled at some of
his more extreme deductions), and I remember the effect
— a slow effect that was not fully operative till years
after — of her non-resistant practice of letting me state my
case as forcibly as I could, willingly admitting all that
seemed valid, and merely putting questions and expressing
doubts that her own experience and reflection suggested.
I had been accustomed to meet people who would not
listen to the Tolstoyan argument, or who ridiculed it, or

68 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
were afraid of it, or evaded it ; on the other hand, I had
met some who accepted it eagerly and let the vehemence
of Tolstoy's statements sweep them off their own feet.
But this truly non-resistant attitude of willingly consider
ing all that could be said for it, readily welcoming all that
was good in it, appreciating its author's force and sincerity,
and yet maintaining her own balance and a steadfast
faithfulness to lessons learnt by a different experience in
other surroundings, was new to me. Its effect (to compare
bad things with good) was like the effect of a scratch from
a poisoned dagger. I was hardly conscious that it had
touched me, but, steadily, from that time onward, my
faith in the efficacy of the Tolstoyan formulary waned, —
until, at last, years later, I disentangled the Tolstoyan
argument against political action, and found its root to
lie in the assertion that all use of physical force to restrain
one's fellow-man is necessarily wrong. This assertion I
now reject, though it comes so near the truth and so
often appears true, that many a conscientious and thought
ful man has accepted it as valid. It is an axiom on which
much of Tolstoy's political teaching will, in the last
analysis, be found to hang. The profound truth and
extraordinary power of much of that great thinker's work
will, I am convinced, never be appreciated at its true value
until this hasty generalization, which has caused perplexity
and confusion to many of his readers, is clearly seen to be
unsound. To return, however, to the events of November, 1898.
I next visited Ernest H. Crosby, who has done so much,
both by lectures and books, to make Tolstoy known
and appreciated in America. From his place at Rhine-
beck I went on to Philadelphia, the headquarters of
the Quakers. Here I met many worthy and estimable

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 69
"Friends." They had already helped the Doukhobdrs
generously, and, after the latter had reached Canada, no
other body of men assisted them so liberally and inde-
fatigably as these Philadelphia Quakers. Prominent
among them was Joseph Elkinton, senior, whose son has
since written a book which gives the best description in our
language of the Doukhobdrs in Canada. There, also, I
met Rufus Jones and Howard Jenkins, the able and worthy
editors of The American Friend and The Friends'' Intelli
gencer, — as well as many other sympathizers. From Phila
delphia I went on with that estimable and spiritually
minded man Dr. R. H. Thomas, to lecture in Baltimore,
and I there had the privilege of making his nearer
acquaintance. I had rarely attempted to speak in public before going
to America, but the desire there for information about the
Doukhobdrs started me off as a lecturer, an activity which
I have continued ever since.
On my return to New York I had the pleasure of
dining with W. D. Howells — the first among Americans
to draw prominent attention to Tolstoy's genius. His
various prefaces and articles on Tolstoy, both as artist and
ethicist, are so good and so discriminatingly appreciative,
that they ought to be collected and republished, and
made accessible in England as well as in America. I
was, in those days, rather indignant at a sentence in
one article, in which he speaks of some conclusions of
Tolstoy's as being "logical, but not reasonable." I now
know very well what he meant, and have since often
borrowed the phrase.
In New York I found a good friend in Miss Wald, of
the Nurses' Settlement. This lady, brought up in com
fort, once found herself in a slum district and had a chance

70 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
to see how the poor really live in a great city. The
impression that the scene made upon her was too powerful
to be washed away by the tears that rushed to her eyes,
and from that time she has devoted herself to such work
as now centres at the Nurses' Settlement. The American
settlements I saw struck me as being more democratic,
wider in their sympathies, and more hearty than the one or
two I know anything of in London.
Altogether, one of the most surprising and hopeful
experiences of my life was the extent and cordiality of
the assistance and encouragement rendered to those of
us who were concerned in the Doukhobdr migration, at this
difficult and critical time. It was as though an unseen
and unsuspected brotherhood — extending from remote
Siberia and the Caucasus, including dwellers in Moscow,
London, and the Essex village from which our party
started, and reaching to these great American cities —
had suddenly sprung into palpable existence to do a work
for which no existing organization was willing to be
responsible. Of a different character were some funny experiences I
had with New York newspapers. An enterprising journalist
whom we will call X, read up what he could extract from
one or two Encyclopaedias and from Stepniak's book, The
Russian Peasantry, and, before I reached New York, sup
plied the newspapers with fantastic accounts of the
Doukhobdrs brought up to date by his own imagination,
and embellished by a history and geography which made
up in originality for what they lacked in accuracy.
On the night I reached New York from Baltimore,
I found that some one had arranged for a number of
reporters to interview me. I told them a plain unvarnished
tale as to what had been arranged about the migration,

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 71
but my account was far from satisfying them. "That's
not what we have been saying," observed one. " I know
it's not," replied I ; " but it's the truth." " Anyway it's
not such good copy as X gave us," remarked another,
closing his notebook, and preparing to depart. "You
see, we don't like going back on what we have once said,"
added a third; and, one by one, they departed dis
satisfied. Among the announcements they had made in
the New York papers were the following : —
" Four thousand Doukhobors will land next month on Manhattan
Island." " A Mr. Mode, a wealthy Englishman, who for years has lived
with Count Tolstoi, arrived here from Russia yesterday. Mr. Mode
comes to confer with the American Committee and to aid in preparing
the appeal for funds.'5
Another article stated that, in consequence of an ukase
of Paul I.,
" About 15,000 of the Communists were ^transported . . .'In
1860 they got permission to return to Russia, and about 15,000 ot
them went back. From that day up to a year ago they were driven
from one part of Russia to another, never being allowed to remain
in one place longer than six months. By that means their numbers
have been reduced to 10,000 ..." u
Another New York paper announced that I had been
to Washington, and
" A portion of the ground in Oregon and Washington that has
been chosen by Mr. Maude for the colony is now under cultivation."
Another paper published a fictitious interview with me,
in which I was made to say —
" We have carefully considered the question where to colonize
these peasants. We have already secured options on the large tracts
of good, fertile land in the State of Oregon, and we have the offer of
some 15,000 acres in the State of Washington."

72 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
These absurd reports were soon reflected in the Canadian
papers. Many of the rumours thus started were injurious to the
Doukhobdrs, and were sure to strengthen Canadian opposi
tion to their immigration, so I had to exert myself to get
them publicly contradicted. This was no easy matter
with papers that " don't like going back on what we have
once said." The Evening Post, however, the most trust
worthy and weighty of New York papers, kindly inserted
a full explanation, and the New York Tribune published a
letter from me, recapitulating the main facts of the case,
and remarking —
" The fate of these people is indeed a hard one. In their own
country they could not get their views, their sufferings, or the facts
of their case represented at all, for the Government issued strict
instructions that they were not to be written about in the papers ;
in this country (before they have even reached this continent) they
receive publicity enough, but their history, beliefs, present condition
aild intentions are altogether misrepresented."
From New York I returned to Ottawa to rejoin Hil
kdff, and to conclude the still pending arrangements with
the Government. From Ottawa, Hilkdff and I went back
to Montreal, where we were much indebted to Professor
Cox of McGill University, and to Mrs. Cox (who was very
active in assisting the Doukhobdrs after they reached
Canada in 1899), as well as to Dr. Cunliffe of the Gazette,
his wife, and other friends, whose hospitality and kindness
I have cause gratefully to remember.
In December I went to Boston, where I met William
Lloyd Garrison, the worthy son of a noble father : Charles
Dole, the author of several excellent books ; N. H. Dole,
the translator of many of Tolstoy's works ; Dr. Robert Ely,
and many other interesting men. From here I sailed on

A DOUKHOBOR FAMILY.

Plate III.

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 73
the New England, and, after a passage finer than our pas
sage out in September, I reached home on December 15,
having been away three and a half months. The trip,
taken all in all, remains one of the pleasantest recollec
tions of my life, and in order not to overestimate the charm
of America and the Americans, I always have to remind
myself that I saw an exceptionally favourable section of it
and of them.
The total cost to me of my trip, including telegrams
and incidental expenses on behalf of the Doukhobdrs, came
to just about ^100.
Before I left Canada, matters were so far advanced that
Leopold Soulerzhitsky, at Batoum, had been empowered by
the Doukhobdrs and their friends in England to engage
the Beaver Line steamer, Lake Huron, to convey a first
party of about 2,100 Doukhobdrs direct from Batoum, on
the Black Sea, to Canada. They started a couple of weeks
after I reached England.
It was in December 1898, Russian style (new style,
January 1899), that the s.s. Lake Huron left the port
of Batoum. Soulerzhitsky was a young man who had himself
suffered many things for refusing military service in
Russia, a refusal which broke down when he was induced
to believe that his conduct was preying on the mind and
endangering the life of his old father.
The voyage of the Lake Huron broke the record of
previous migrations across the Atlantic: never before
had 2,100 people gone on one ship to America to become
permanent settlers there. On January 23rd, after nearly
a month's voyage, they reached Halifax in Nova Scotia,
not before some of the Doukhobdr women had lost faith
in Soulerzhitsky and given themselves up for lost. To

74 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
induce them to take plenty of fresh air, he deluded them
into looking out for land when they were only half across
the Atlantic. After a few days of this, he saw some of
the women looking very dejected, and when he asked what
was the matter, they shook their heads dismally, and told
him the steamer had " lost its way." Inquiring why they
thought so, he was told that the time by their watches no
longer agreed with the sun, and that the sun that used
to rise on one side of the vessel now rose on the other!
Nothing he could say quite dispelled their fears ; but in due
course land really was seen, and a cordial welcome awaited
the Doukhobdrs on their arrival in the New World.
The Lake Huron was soon followed across the Atlantic
by the Lake Superior, and each of these vessels made a
second trip, so that by June 1899, 7,363 Doukhobdrs had
reached Canada, leaving some 12,000 Doukhobdrs in the
Caucasus, who did not wish to emigrate ; and about 110
others in exile in Siberia.
It does not, properly, belong to this chapter to tell of
Leopold Soulerzhitsky and the excellent way in which he
organized that first ship-load of emigrants ; but I cannot
refrain from testifying to the merit of his work, and
the capacity he showed. Another worker, whose sound
judgment and unselfish exertions in another line deserve
special mention, is Herbert P. Archer, who went to Canada
to meet the Doukhobdrs on their arrived, and there con
tinued the work I had commenced, as an intermediary
between the Canadian Government and the Doukhobdrs.
Hilkdff remained in Canada till all four ship-loads of
Doukhobdrs had arrived, and had been settled on their
locations. In Russia, wide publicity has been given to two
booklets about the Doukhobdrs by " P. A. Tverskdy" (the

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 75
pseudonym of a Russian exile, who has made a fortune
in California). The first of these devotes much space to an
attempt to represent the provinces of Manitoba, Assiniboia,
Saskatchewan^ and Prince Albert as almost uninhabitable,
owing to the severity of the climate. " Only the southern
third of Manitoba and a narrow strip of Southern Assiniboia
are fit for agriculture." The inhabitants, he says, are
annually condemned to " eight or nine months of absolute
idleness." The absurdity of all this is abundantly shown
by the remarkable success recently achieved in Assiniboia
and Saskatchewan, not only by the Doukhobdrs, but by
thousands of other settlers. In the second of his book
lets : New Chapters of the Doukhobor Epic, Tverskdy makes
offensive insinuations against Prince H  (obviously
meaning Prince D. A. Hilkdff, whom he cannot forgive
for not having settled the Doukhobdrs in California) and
concerning the Government bonus money, which amounted
to over $35,000. Tverskdy says :
" The Doukhobdrs themselves, dozens of them from
different villages, have said one and the same thing to me,
— believing that the whole amount, or at least part of the
money, has been ' made away with,' and has not reached
them." And, in a footnote, he adds his own supposition
that Prince H  handed this money over to W. F.
McCreary, and that the latter "disposed" of it as best
pleased himself, without rendering any accounts.
In view of these insinuations, I wish to state just what
really occurred. The Canadian Government never en
trusted these funds to Prince Hilkdff at all ; nor did he
ever ask them to do so. A reference to the letter to me
from James A. Smart, Deputy Minister of the Interior
(given in the Appendix), will show what the Government
did with the money.

76 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
They arranged that it should be spent and accounted
for by reliable officials of the Immigration Department.
The accounts were duly rendered, and were examined on
behalf of the Doukhobdrs by H. P. Archer ; certain small
discrepancies that had accidentally occurred were rectified,
and copies of the accounts were passed on by Archer to
P. Verigin, after the latter reached Canada. There is,
therefore, no room whatever for insinuations of dishonesty
or misappropriation. Besides the $35,000 due according
to agreement, the Canadian Government ultimately spent
about another $20,000 in settling the Doukhobdrs. Part
of this extra expenditure the Doukhobdrs have agreed to
refund. The services rendered by the Doukhobdr Committee
of the Society of Friends, in London, deserve most grateful
mention. After my return from America I made ac
quaintance with the members of that committee, and was
allowed to attend several of their meetings. It was
through them, and not without financial assistance from
them, that the second, third, and fourth steamers were
chartered for the migration. They supplied what the
movement needed ; men accustomed to the transaction
of business, inspiring confidence in others, and able and
ready to raise considerable sums when necessary. The
names of the members of this committee were William
A. Albright, Edmund Wright Brooks, Frederick G. Cash,
Samuel F. Hurnard, Thos. W. Marsh, Henry T. Mennell,
Arthur Midgley, Thos. P. Newman, Metford Warner, and
John Bellows. John Bellows acted as " clerk " to the
committee. He was indefatigable in his efforts on behalf
of the Doukhobdrs, and was most forbearing to their
imperfections, which soon became obvious.
The committee laboured under the disadvantage of

PREPARATIONS IN CANADA 77
not knowing the Doukhobdrs intimately, and of having
to obtain information at second hand ; but their generous
exertions were of the greatest importance in enabling the
work to be carried to a successful conclusion, and no one
who had the privilege of co-operating with them could
fail to appreciate the interest they took in a people in
many respects so remote from themselves.
Among other services rendered by the Friends to
the Doukhobdrs were the exertions of William Sturge,
who went out to Cyprus, tried to make the settlement
there a success, and when that appeared impossible, wound
up affairs, and facilitated the removal of the Cyprus Dou
khobdrs to Canada. His death took place just as he was
preparing to return to England, having finished his un
selfish labours on their behalf.
Among the Doukhobdrs in Canada the Friends have,
again, been foremost in educational work. Mrs. Varney
had a dispensary among them in the summer of 1899, and
her young cousin, Miss Nellie E. Baker, started the first
Doukhobdr school next year. Since then Nurse Boyle
has been among them; and Miss Helen Morland (now.
Mrs. John A. Ransome), Miss Hannah Bellows and Miss
Jessie A. Wood have carried on similar work, which
must have been valuable not only directly by helping
the Doukhobdrs to learn English, but indirectly by
making them acquainted with English-speaking people
of high character, and thus disarming the suspicions and
disapproval which the Doukhobdrs are apt to feel towards
those who do not belong to their sect.
One curious fact recounted both by Soulerzhitsky and
by Bontch-Broue'vitch (another Russian helper, who has
spent much time in studying the Doukhobdr chants,
etc.), was that the Doukhobdrs could not believe that

78 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
these Russian helpers had come among them of their
own free will. Soulerzhitsky, for instance, reached a
Doukhobdr village late one night, tired with arrange
ments he had been making on their behalf, and asked a
Doukhobdr to put his horse up for him. The Doukhobdr
told Soulerzhitsky to do it himself. The latter remon
strated, and said he was wearing himself out in their
service and they ought to be grateful. This the Dou
khobdr could not see at all. " If," said he, " our Leader
told us to go anywhere and help any one we should do it,
and expect no gratitude ; we should do it for our Leader,
not for the people we helped. So you also are sent here
by your leader, Tolstoy ; and you have to do what he tells
you, and must not expect gratitude from us for obeying
him." In the same way when Bontch-Broudvitch was leaving
Canada, some Doukhobdrs decided to write to Tolstoy,
asking the latter to order Bontch-Brouevitch to remain
for some months longer. They were quite surprised when
they found that Bontch-Broudvitch continued to carry out
his own plans without waiting for instructions from his
"Leader." The idea that people can live independently, using
their own judgment, and not relying on orders from a
Leader, seemed hard for them to grasp, and the subsequent
chapters of this book will explain why this was so.

CHAPTER III
SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM
The Russian Church has never undergone any convulsion
so powerful, or politically successful, as the Reformation
which rent Western Christendom in twain ; but from the
earliest times down to to-day, dissent has existed, now
burning up fiercely, now dropping almost out of the ken
of history, now reappearing in fresh forms, but always
there, ready to make itself felt when circumstances
favoured it.
A glance at Russian Dissent during the last few
centuries, and at some foreign movements which influenced
it, will help us to understand the problem before us ; and
if we start from the Judaizers, mentioned in the first
chapter of this book, it may be possible to trace a line of
spiritual dissent ending in the Doukhobdrs, whose Leaders,
towards the end of the eighteenth century, appear to have
been representatives of an advanced school of religious
thought. The Judaizers were a sect of the fifteenth century
who combined Jewish tendencies with rationalism. They
denied the divinity of Jesus and rejected the worship of
icdns. The movement apparently commenced in Novgorod,
spread to Moscow, and for a time achieved considerable
success, obtaining adherents even at Court. In 1504,
however, this heresy was crushed ; some of the Leaders
79

80 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
were burnt to death, and others were imprisoned. Those
followers of the sect who escaped were scattered over
Russia. What appears to be a small remnant of it has
continued to exist till to-day in the sect of Sabbatarians
(Soubbdtniki). Earlier than this, the Bohemians (Czechs), who form
the western outpost of the Slavonic race in Europe, had
shown strong tendencies in the direction of liberal and
democratic religion. They form, as it were, a link
between the Protestantism of the West and Russian
rationalist dissent. John Huss had taught that, " in the
things which pertain to salvation, God is to be obeyed
rather than man," and had refused to have his opinions
chosen for him by the Council of Constance, by whose
order he was burnt in 1415, his soul having first been
formally consigned to the devil.
It is going rather far afield, but one must, in passing,
recall the fact that Huss was greatly influenced by Wyclif
(1320-84), whose most radical opinions we shall find
reappearing among the Russian sects. Wyclif went far
in the direction of freedom of thought and the demo
cratization of religion ; he formally denied the doctrine of
transubstantiation ; he repudiated pardons, indulgences,
absolutions, pilgrimages to the shrines of saints, worship
of their images, and worship of the saints themselves.
His final appeal was to the Bible as the one ground of
faith, and this was coupled with an assertion of the right
of every instructed man to examine the Bible for himself.
" He asked that all religious vows might be suppressed,
that tithes might be diverted to the maintenance of the
poor, and the clergy maintained by the free alms of their
flocks." * He reminded the Pope that, " Christ, during
* Green's Short History qf the English People.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 81
His life upon earth, was of all men the poorest, casting
from Him all worldly authority." And added, " I deduce
from these premises, as a simple counsel of my own, that
the Pope should surrender all temporal authority to the
civil power and advise his clergy to do the same."
" He seems," says Priestly, " to have thought it was
wrong to take away the life of man on any account, and
that war was utterly unlawful."
His followers, in the Lollard movement, were by no
means always so opposed to the use of force as he was,
but a glance at such a work as Thorold Rogers' essay on
"John Wiklif" suffices to show how remarkably near
the Lollards were to the Tolstoyan or the Doukhobdr
position of to-day.
" Among these preachers none were more active than
William Smith and William Swinderby. ' The former of
these,' says an unfriendly annalist, " . . became an austere
man, vowed a single life, left off linen; abjured flesh,
fish, wine, and beer, as if they were poison ; went about
barefoot.' " As William Smith went beyond the Oxford preachers,
so William Swinderby went beyond Smith. He railed at
the women for their extravagant dress, till they tried to
stone him ; he denounced the rich merchants and rich
landlords, till he drove them to despair. He advised
the people to withhold tithes and offerings from immoral
and incompetent priests, and announced the Divine wrath
against those who sued or imprisoned their debtors.
" Other priests, such as were Ball and Straw, went
still further. They preached about the natural equality
of man, of the descent of all from a common and humble
stock ; of the profusion and rapacity of those who make
themselves rich, and keep others poor by violence; of

82 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the hopelessness of attempting to better the condition
of the peasantry, except by a combination and an
uprising. " It was a favourite adage of Wiklif, that ' dominion
is founded in grace.' This quaint theological expression,
when interpreted in modern language, means no more
than that obedience to government is based on its moral
use. To a government immoral, selfish, rapacious,
Wiklif counselled resistance. But his resistance is en
durance and remonstrance. 'Antichrist argues thus,' he
says in one of his sermons, 'to keep men fighting,
teaching that men should fight, as an adder naturally
stings a man who treads on her. . . . But here methinks
the fiend destroys many by the falseness of his reasons
and principles. If it be lawful to withstand violence by
strength, it is lawful to fight with them that stand against
us. Well I wot that angels stand against fiends, and
many men by strength of law withstand their enemies
and kill them not, nor even fight against them. But
wise men of the world hold these means for strength, and
thus vanquish their enemies without stroke ; and men of
the Gospel vanquish by patience, and come to rest and peace
by suffering. Right so we may do, if we keep charity."
By his doctrine of " Dominion," Wycliff struck at the
root of all arbitrary power unworthily used. " Dominion,"
said he, " can in its highest and purest sense belong to God
alone. He deals it out to men in their several stations and
offices on condition of obedience to His commandments ;
mortal sin, therefore, breaks the link and deprives man of
his authority." It was the revolutionary nature of this
doctrine that cost Huss his life. " If," said he, " a bishop
or a prelate is in mortal sin, he is no longer pope, bishop,
or prelate ; still more, if a king is in mortal sin, he is not

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 83
truly a king before God." To which the Cardinal of
Cambrai replied : " What, is it not enough for you to over
throw the Church ? Do you wish to attack kings ? " *
Following Huss, in Bohemia, came Peter of Chelcic,
a cobbler by trade (active as a writer between 1430 and
1456), who went still further. Pipin, the Russian author
of A History qf Czech Literature, says —
" The primitive Church is Peter of Chelcic's (Heltchitsky's) ideal
of a social organization, founded on equality, liberty, and brother
hood. In his opinion, Christianity actually contains these prin
ciples ; it is only necessary for society to return to the pure Christian
teaching, and all other organizations, with their kings and popes,
will prove superfluous ; the law of love will be all-sufficient. . . .
" Historically, he ascribes the commencement of the decadence
of Christianity to the time of Constantine, whom Pope Sylvester
converted to Christianity without altering his pagan life and morals.
Constantine, in return, conferred on the Pope riches and secular
authority. From that time forth, the two powers have always helped
one another, and have sought for external glory. Doctors, Masters
of Arts, and the clergy, have heen anxious only to bring the whole
world into subjection to their authority ; have armed men against
one another to murder and rob, and have quite destroyed both the
faith and practice of Christianity. Peter of Chelcic absolutely
denies the lawfulness of war or corporal punishment. Every
soldier, even if he be a knight, is simply a user of violence, a wrong
doer and a murderer."
" Peter of Chelcic appears to have had much influence.
His followers were called the Brethren of Chelcic ; in 1457
they formed a community, whose founder, Gregory, an
nounced that he aud his companions taught the rejection
of oaths, of the military profession, of all official rank,
titles, and endowments, and of any hierarchy." t
" He also taught that the people ought not to pay
* See " The Poor Man's Gospel," in The English. Peasant, by Eiohard
Heath. t J. Sutherland Black, in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

84 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
either tax or tribute or interest, nor to perform forced
labour; nor can a true Christian demand justice in the
Law Courts. To do so is to put confidence in man,
and to seek to be avenged by force." *
Readers of the true and touching story of " Graden-
hiitten " in W. D. Howell's Three Villages, will re
member that the non-resistant Indians massacred by
white men, beyond the Ohio, in 1782, were converts of
the Moravians, who carried on the traditions of these
Bohemian reformers.
Before we come, after the Judaizers, to the next mani
festation of rationalism on Russian soil, the Reformation
had occurred in Germany, and, undoubtedly, exercised
an influence in Russia, though it failed to evoke any
movement of corresponding strength there. It was in
1517 that Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the
church door in Wittenburg. By 1523, the Reformers
already had a church in Riga, and by the middle of the
century they had churches at Kief, Poddlia, and elsewhere
in what now is Russia. The effect of Protestantism in
strengthening and encouraging Russian Dissent is, from
that time onwards, a constant, though never a very
prominent factor.
Among the many Protestant sects whose tenets will
reappear as we proceed to study the Doukhobdrs, the one
that most particularly deserves attention is the sect of
Anabaptists— -the extreme left wing of the army of the
Reformation. They held to the independence of individual
judgment and the supreme importance of the subjective
consciousness in religion. They rejected infant baptism ;
but what is much more to the purpose is that they wished
to establish the kingdom of God on earth, and were
* Eiohard Heath.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 85
unwilling to render allegiance to any authorities that failed
to maintain a just order of society. They were active in
the revolt of 1525, when the peasants claimed that their
right to elect and dismiss their own Church ministers
should be recognized, that tithes should be reduced and
go, in part, to maintain the poor, that serfdom should be
abolished, " since Christ has redeemed us all ; " and that
game, fish, and fowl should be free to all as God created
them ; that the appropriation of forests by the rich should
not be allowed ; and that fair rents, the abolition of arbi
trary punishments, and the restoration of common land
should be granted; and, finally, that all these claims
should be tested by Scripture.
The Anabaptists were not all of one mind. The tenets
of the more peaceable section included belief in an elect
people ordained to reign over the earth to extirpate evil ;
community of goods ; no marriage or community of wor
ship with the unregenerate ; adult baptism ; and no com
pulsion in matters of faith. Capital punishment, pleadings
in Courts of Law, oaths, and all absolute power, they
considered to be incompatible with Christian faith.
Melancthon, who was unfriendly to them, has given a
summary of the views of the more violent section, which
included the opinion : " that a Christian who rules by the
sword can neither be prince nor regent, nor exert any
authority whatever; that Christians recognize as their
superiors only those who are servants of the word of God ;
that a Christian ought to possess no property, but live in
fraternity and community, as did the apostolic society ;
that there can be no marriage between one who has faith
and one who has not, such a marriage being prostitution."
Hardly any sect has suffered such merciless persecution
as the Anabaptists. It has had in its ranks many martyrs,

86 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
and there is every reason to consider that it was, at first,
a sincere protest against the oppression of the poor by the
rich, and against the abuse of power by the governing
classes. Unfortunately, the Anabaptists when they
obtained power made a worse use of it than those had
done whom they denounced. Ardent reformers are too
apt to suppose that were existing governments abolished
all would go well in the world, and people would then
naturally behave rightly. The case of the Anabaptists
does not support this supposition, but rather inclines one
to believe that those who are fiercest in denunciation of
existing wrongs are often the least likely to succeed in the
practical work of organizing a better state of society.
In 1533-6, the Anabaptists made a determined
attempt to establish a theocracy at Munster, in West
phalia, where they had gained influence. They succeeded
in obtaining control of the town and deposing the magis
trates. In April 1534, Count Waldeck, its expelled
bishop, began a siege of Munster, which lasted fourteen
months. When the Anabaptists had got rid, within their
borders, of all the wicked authorities they had been
denouncing, they were face to face with the task of hold
ing society together and making it possible to continue
corporate life. John of Leyden (Jphann Bockhold), who
had been a tailor and was one of the most energetic of
the sect, became supreme. Announcing himself to be the
successor of David, he claimed royal honours and absolute
power in the new " Sion." Arbitrary and extravagant
measures were justified by visions he received from
heaven. With this sanction he introduced polygamy and
took four wives, one of whom he, in a paroxysm of fury,
beheaded with his own hand in the market-place. The
town was captured in 1535, and John of Leyden and

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 87
some of his followers were executed, after being cruelly
tortured. In the history of the Doukhobdrs we shall come upon
occurrences which, in their sad contrast between aim
and execution, recall this experience of the Anabaptist
movement. After the Judaizers, the next advance in a rationalist
direction of which we have evidence in Russia, is that of
B&shkin. This movement commenced beyond the Volga.
One of its first adherents was Kassian, Bishop of Kazan.
One day, at confession, Bashkin expressed a wish to
have a reasonable knowledge of religion, and that the
holy faith might, in the persons of its appointed servants,
produce fruit among the people. " In matters of religion,"
said he, " words are not sufficient, deeds are required ; the
whole law is summed up in the saying, ' Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself.' " Puzzled how to deal with a
penitent of this kind, the priest reported him to the
higher authorities.
Bashkin did not consider Jesus to be God equal with
the Father. He did not hold the bread and wine in the
Eucharist to be truly the flesh and blood of Christ. Icdns
of the virgin and of the saints he called idols. Confession
to a priest he looked upon as useless, saying, that if a
man ceases to sin he will be free from sin even though he
has confessed to no priest. He did not consider the
traditions of the Church binding. The lives of the saints
he held to be fabulous. He rejected the authority of the
Ecumenical Councils. Of the Bible he said that he did
not accept what was not included in the Gospels and the
Epistles. Prayer for the dead he thought useless, and all
prayer, apart from conduct corresponding thereto, futile.
In 1552 the Metropolitan Makarius laid information

88 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
of this new heresy before Ivdn the Terrible ; and a Council
of the Church condemned Bashkin and some of his
followers to imprisonment.*
Bashkin's teaching was followed by Kosdy, a Moscovite
by birth, who had been a servant of a Boyar at Court,
but had run away from his master and had entered the
Byelo Lake Monastery as a monk. There he heard of, and
adopted, the doctrines of Bashkin. Kosdy denied the
doctrine of the Trinity, and said that Jesus was not God,
but simply a man. He rejected tb'; theory of the
Redemption, pointing out that it hqf/ not done away
with death, as it should have done had it really redeemed
us from the effects of Adam's sin. Rejecting icdns, he
also refused to believe in miracles performed by them.
He thought it wrong to pray to the saints, and considered
that their relics ought to be buried, and not indecently
exposed in churches. The prayers, fasts, and ceremonies
of the Church, Kosdy considered to be ordained merely
by human traditions. He rejected monasticism ; re
proached the Church with its lack of unanimity ; and
said that the bishops, by rejecting heretics and not accept
ing their repentance, broke the law of the Lord which
commands us to forgive sinners even if they repeat their
sin. In general, he adopted the teachings of Bashkin,
and carried them to further conclusions. In 1555 Kosdy
was condemned to confinement in a monastery, but
escaped, and made his way into Lithuania.
The Molokans (who are sometimes classed as a twin
sect with the Doukhobdrs) in a statement of their faith
* See Liv&noFs Raslcdlnilci i Ostrdzhnild, vol. i. ohap. 8, for an
account of the origin of tho Molokdns and Doukhobors. See also the
second edition (published in 1882) of Novitsky's valuable work on the
Doukhobors.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 89
printed at Geneva, attribute their origin to the reign of
Ivdn the Terrible.* In his reign, they say, an English
doctor was employed by the Court, in Moscow. The
common people, in their ignorance, regarded him as
Antichrist and closed their gates and doors against him.
At Court, he made acquaintance with an influential
landowner from the neighbourhood of Tambdf, and had
much conversation with him about the Bible, which was a
book that, in Russia, people were not then allowed to
possess. This landowner had a favourite servant, an
intelligent and educated man named Matthew Semenof,
who understood Bible truths more readily than his master,
and soon began to neglect the services of the Russian
Church and the adoration of icdns. He obtained a
Slavonic Bible, and commenced teaching those about him
the pure truth concerning the worship of God in spirit
and in truth. But in those days, the account continues,
it was dangerous to say anything against the Church
services, and Matthew was arrested and tried. He suffered
a martyr's death, being broken on the wheel. Some of
his followers, serfs of his master, returning home from
Moscow with the Bible, secretly spread the doctrine of the
true worship of God in spirit and in truth. They also
were discovered, tried, cruelly knouted, and sent to convict
labour for life. But the teaching still spread secretly
among the peasants.
Whether this story be true or not it is impossible to
say, but it is at least plausible. Bdshkin and Kosdy had
prepared a soil suitable for such a movement. English
physicians certainly visited Russia during Ivan's reign, and
there is a passage in Horsey's Diary t indicating that
* Liv&nof, vol. i. pp. 153-5.
f Quoted in W. E. Morfill's Russia, fourth ed., p. 191.

90 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Englishmen in Russia then enjoyed high esteem for
medical skill. Ivin the Terrible was himself fond of
theological disputes, both with Roman Catholics and
Protestants; and though a printing press was set up in
Moscow in 1553, and the Acts of the Apostles and the
Epistles were printed, "the efforts of those who gained
their living by copying manuscripts, and the force of
superstitious prejudice, triumphed," and the printers were
obliged to betake themselves to the dominions of the King
of Poland. The first Slavonic Bible was printed at Ostrdg,
in Volhynia, in 1581. All this fits in with the Molokan
tradition told above.
Kosdy, as has been said, denied the divinity of Jesus,
and we shall see later on how important became the
question of the comparative rank in sonship to God
claimed for Jesus, as compared to the rank claimed for
various leaders of different Russian sects. In this connec
tion it is well to remember that there existed in Poland,
from 1565 to 1658, an Antitrinitarian Church. Faustus
Socinus (Fausto Sozzini) resided at or near Cracow from
1579 till his death in 1604. With no wish to be a heresi
arch, he was "a vindicator of human reason against the
supernatural," and from him the Socinians take their name.
Besides his antitrinitarian views, he held that war, and
all taking of human life, was wrong, and that to hold
magisterial office is unlawful for a Christian. He had
great influence with the Polish Unitarians — a numerous
and powerful body " distinguished by the rank of their
adherents, the ability and learning of their scholars, the
excellence of their schools, and the superiority and wide
circulation of their theological literature."* Gradually
the Jesuits obtained the ascendency in Poland, and in
* J. Fred. Smith, in Encyclopedia Britannica.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 91
1658 all adherents of the " Arian and Anabaptist sect "
were commanded to quit the kingdom within two years :
a dispersion which probably served to spread their views
east as well as west, though chiefly, no doubt, westward.
Transylvania, which contains a Slavonic element in its
motley population, has also, we must notice, been an
important centre of Unitarianism, and has possessed a
formally constituted Unitarian Church from 1568 to the
present day.
Returning to Russia, the next prominent representative
of rationalism we meet with is Tveritinof, who lived in
Moscow in the reign of Peter the Great. He was a doctor,
and in intimate touch with the German Calvinists and
Protestants, of whom there were at that time many in
Russia. The effect of Peter's reforms, of the favour he
showed to foreigners, and of his unceremonious treatment
of old traditions, was to make it possible, for a while, to
speak with considerable freedom on religious matters.
Tveritinof was extremely sarcastic. His practice as a
doctor brought him into contact with people of all classes,
and he appears to have omitted no opportunity of ridi
culing the superstitions of the Church. While adopting
the attitude of Bashkin and Kosdy towards icdns, prayers
for the dead, transubstantiation, and Church Councils,
he appears to have accepted the divinity of Jesus, and to
have taken the Bible, as read by the Calvinists, as the
rock on which to base his criticism of the Greek Church.
What gave Tveritinof importance, was not any
originality in his opinions, but the fact that he expressed
his views clearly and pithily, and, living at a time when
the Church, bitterly as it persecuted the Raskdlniks, was
slow to act against Protestantism, he reached a wide
audience. He took pains to circulate manuscript booklets

92 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
containing the Scripture texts on which his school based
their indictment of the Orthodox Russo-Greek Church.
These notebooks carried his teaching far afield among the
peasants, and many aphorisms of his, as well as many of his
favourite texts, are still habitually quoted among the
Molokans. God, he said, should be worshipped in spirit, but an
icon is only a board which burns if thrown into the fire.
He questioned the sanctity of many of the saints, and
especially of St. Nicholas the wonder-worker (particularly
revered in Russia). Nicholas, he said, was only a common
village peasant, whom people took to worshipping when
they had forgotten God. In general he called in question
the canonization of saints, on the ground that no one has
conversed with God, or can know saint from sinner till the
Day of Judgment. Of the dead, and of prayers for them,
Tveritinof quoted Paul, that " each shall receive his own
reward according to his own labour," and added that
priests for their own profit invented prayers for the dead.
He taught that what is written in the Bible should be
believed, but that there is no need to believe what the
Church has added thereto. Monasticism he called a senile
contrivance.* His doctrines met with much success among
the Streltsi, whose dislike to Peter the Great's new methods
of government helped to make them restless and critical.
Ultimately Tveritinof was brought to account. The
last Council of the Russian Church was held in 1714, and
by it he was anathematized, but escaped death by abjuring
his heresies. His cousin, Thomas Ivanof, a barber, was confined in
the Tchoiidof Monastery. There he chopped to pieces a
* Livanof, vol. i., gives a long account of Tveritinof. See also
Heard's Tlie Russian Church and Dissent.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 93
sculptured figure of Alexis (Metropolitan of Kief and of
all Russia, 1348-78), in consequence of which conduct he
was burnt to death.*
Whatever influence Tveritinof may have had on the
Molokans, it is not directly through him that the line of
spiritual descent connecting the Doukhobdrs with the early
Christian sects must be traced. Tveritinof represented
the school which bases itself on the Bible : man is free to
think, provided that he thinks what is in the Bible, and
does not think what runs counter to the Bible.f
* Novitsky, Doulchobortsi ih Istoriya i Yerooutchenie. Kief, 1882.
t Few people in those days seemed able to go further than that,
and to use their reason and conscience freely, recognizing no external
authority. When they tried to do so, they were (as people still are) apt
to make one of two opposite errors. Either, underrating " the voice
within," they became materialistic, and ultimately irreligious, or— in
place of the decrees of the Church, or the revelations of Scriptures —
they started revelations of their own (as the Doukhobdrs ultimately did),
founded not on such plain workings of reason and conscience as one man
may readily compare with another (and as can be checked in practice
and rectified by experience), but revelations that came by visions, ap
pealing to the senses of the person who supposed himself to be spiritually
influenced, or were accepted on the authority of some local Prophet or
Leader. To illustrate what I mean by what occurs among ourselves, let me
mention a case in which on two successive days I heard lectures on what
happens to the soul after death. Each lecture was plausible, definite,
and gave information that would be interesting were it verifiable. The
first lecture was based on the visions of Swedenborg; the second was
Theosophic, and based on revelations received from the Mahatmas. The
difficulty in accepting either lecture was that, though each was credible,
each contradicted the other. I remember asking Herbert Burrows
what, in such a case, a reasonable man was to do? His humorous
reply was, "Well, the only thing to do is to start revelations of one's
own." A more serious reply would be : Doubt all revelations addressed
to the senses, whether your own or any one else's. Trust only what
appeals convincingly to your reason and conscience, and with an ever-
present sense of your own fallibility , be careful to confine your religious
assertions to what is necessary and suflicient, well authenticated and
verifiable. Tolstoy once summed the matter up well, when he said that

94 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The Doukhobdrs, on the other hand, at least in theory,
reject all external authorities, including the Bible ; or use
them merely as aids, and not as authorities.
We may notice, in passing, a Silesian named Kullman,
who was an ardent follower of the mystic, Jacob Bohme,
and who with a friend named Norderman approached the
Patriarch for permission to print a book expounding his
views. He thus brought his work under the notice of the
authorities, with the result that he and his friend were
burnt to death, in Moscow, in 1689.
In tracing the origin of ideas adopted by the Doukho
bdrs, we may deal very briefly with the great schism, the
Raskdl, which followed the Patriarch Nikon's reforms in
1654 ; for this dispute turned, at first, merely on points
of ritual, and was, at its inception, a squabble among
priests and monks, which neither interested nor moved
the people. How the name Jesus should be spelt ; what
shape the cross should have ; whether two or three fingers
should be extended in making the sign of the cross, and
whether " Halleluiah " should be sung twice or three
times, were the matters in contention. The older tradi
tions of the Greek Church were on Nikon's side, and the
practices in defence of which the Raskdlniks seceded, had
crept into the Russian Church by mere accident and laxity.
But when the upholders of the old, uncorrected missals
and of the double Halleluiahs were anathematized by the
Council of the Church (1666-67) : " Their souls, in virtue
of the power given to the Church by Jesus Christ, to be
if Jesus Christ came into the room and began to talk to him, he would
ask to be taken to the lunatic asylum — so much does the probability of
any man's senses deceiving him exceed the probability of such an appari
tion being genuine. Questioning all external authorities, Tolstoy refuses
to accept as authoritative the revelations of the mystics any more than he
accepts the decrees of the Churches.

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 95
given up to eternal torments, together with the souls of
the traitor Judas and of the Jews by whom Jesus Christ
was crucified," the Raskdlniks found a firm standing-ground
against their opponents. For if the opinions they held on
these matters deserved eternal damnation, what about the
Saints, Patriarchs, and Tsars of former generations who
had believed as they did, and crossed themselves as they
did ? " If," said they, " you anathematize us, you anathe
matize also your own forefathers and all the holy men of
the past."
This was just one of those clear, strong points, capable
of being pithily and caustically put, so dear to the souls
of Russian sectarians. Yet for sixteen years the Raskdl
made but little headway with the people, and the Raskdl
niks ventured only to plead for toleration. The Tsarevna
Sophia, however, who was then ruling during the minority
of Peter the Great, persecuted them with incredible
cruelty and ferocity. The Raskdlniks were to be extermi
nated. The officials reported those who did not attend
Mass, or showed other signs of unorthodoxy. These were
arrested, put to the torture, and questioned as to who
had perverted them and who were their co-believers.
Those whose names were mentioned at these inquiries were
in their turn tortured, and other names extracted from
them. Stubborn, impenitent Raskdlniks were burnt alive.
Those who recanted were beaten with the knout and
released. If they relapsed, no mercy was shown them a
second time ; and one section of extreme Raskdlniks were
burnt, whether they recanted or not.
Never has the stubborn obstinacy of the Russian
nature been more dramatically displayed than in with
standing this persecution. The Raskdlniks would not
yield. They fled from the capital, spreading out in all

96 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
directions, establishing colonies in the most distant parts
of the Empire : in the frozen north, across the Ural
Mountains, and even beyond the borders of Russia.
By ferocious ukases, in 1687 and 1689, the Govern
ment undertook the task of hunting them down. Armed
bodies of men were despatched " that their refuges may
be discovered and destroyed, and their property confis
cated, and every man, woman, and child apprehended,
in order that their abominable heresy may be exter
minated without any chance of revival." In 1693 these
• instructions, which had been issued to the authorities of
all the northern regions, were strengthened by a further
injunction, that all the Raskdlniks' buildings and property
should be burnt to the ground, " that their associates may
nowhere find any refuge."
This policy was continued for more than thirty years,
far into the reign of Peter the Great. English readers
iu search of a brief account, can find a good one in
the chapters on "The Raskdl" in Stepniak's book, Tlie
Russian Peasantry. For our purpose let it suffice to
give a single incident showing the stuff of which these
Russian sectarians are made. One forgets the triviality
of the questions in which the dispute originated, in con
templating the awful tragedy to which it led up when
once the fanaticism of the people had been fully aroused.
" The torpor of the people was broken. The im
pudent appeal to brute force in matters of such delicacy,
and so dear to men's souls, began to produce its wonted
effect. The masses began to stir; the unprecedented
persecution of men and women of unquestioned morality,
who met their trials with such fortitude, began to tell
even on the wooden nerves of their contemporaries. The
two fingers — the emblem of the Raskdlnik's cross and

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 97
creed — shown to the awestruck crowd from amongst the
flames of the stake, produced a stronger effect than the
preaching of any number of Raskdlniks could have done."
N. Kostomarof, the historian, describes the following
characteristic scene : —
" It was in Tumen, a town in Western Siberia ; time,
Sunday morning. The priests were celebrating the mass
in the cathedral on the lines of the new missals, as usual.
The congregation was listening calmly to the service,
when, at the moment of the solemn appearance of the
consecrated wafer, a female voice shouted, ' Orthodox !
do not bow ! They carry a dead body ; the wafer is
stamped with the unholy cross, the seal of Antichrist.'
"The speaker who thus interrupted the service was
a female Raskdlnik, accompanied by a male co-religionist
of hers. The man and woman were seized, knouted in
the public square, and thrown into prison. But their
act produced its effect. When another Raskdlnik, the
monk Danilo, appeared, shortly after, on the same spot
and began to preach, an excited crowd at once gathered
around him. His words affected his audience so deeply
that girls and old women began to see the skies open
above them, and the Virgin Mary, with the angels, holding
a crown of glory over those who refused to pray as they
were ordered to by the authorities. Danilo persuaded
them to flee into the wilderness for the sake of the true
faith. Three hundred people, both men and women,
joined him, but a strong body of armed men was sent in
pursuit. They could not escape, and Danilo seized the
moment to preach to them, and persuade them that the
hour had come for all of them to receive the baptism of
fire. By this, he meant they were to burn themselves
alive. They accordingly locked themselves up in a big
H

98 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
wooden shed, set fire to it, and perished in the flames — all
the three hundred with their leader."
As Stepniak says, " Every Raskdlnik, who fell into
the hands of the Orthodox, was doomed to the stake
unless he abjured his faith. Religious ideas were blent
together with the impulses of manly courage. Death at
the stake was the baptism by fire which Christ bestowed
on the faithful ; it was the Prophet's chariot of fire,
which was to carry their souls straight to heaven. Over
flowing religious exaltation created a yearning after
martyrdom." Sapdshnikof, who made a special study of the matter,
reckons up 117" cases of collective suicide by fire, and
brings the number of victims, between the years 1667
and 1700, to the appalling total of 8,834. The number
of those who perished on the scaffold, in the torture-
chamber, or in prison, must have been still greater.
The effect of it all was, that the Raskdlniks increased
and multiplied, and at the present day are estimated to
number from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 people. We shall
meet, in the history of the Doukhobdrs, with a similar
tenacity of purpose and a similar readiness to sacrifice
themselves. About this time we hear of Danelo Filipovitch, a
peasant of the Province of KostromA, said to be a deserter
from the army, and a man of great piety. He spent many
years in a cave near the Volga, praying and studying the
Scriptures and the Church liturgies, both in the old version
and in the revised version introduced by Nikon (b. 1605,
d. 1681), from whose reforms resulted the great secession
ofthe Old Believers or Raskdlniks of which we have just
spoken. After long pondering over the old and new books,

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 99
Danelo Filipovitch put them all into a sack and pitched
them into the river, saying that they were perplexing, and
that the real source of truth was to be found in —
"The golden book,
The living book,
The book of the dove,
The Lord Himself, The Holy Spirit." *
The Doukhobdrs still use this expression, " The Living
Book," but they now apply it to the unwritten collection
of " psalms " recited by them at their services, preserved in
their memories but not written down in any book.
Ultimately Danelo Filipovitch proclaimed himself to
be God, and gave twelve commandments to his followers,
the sixth of which says —
" Do not marry, and, if married,
Live with wife as with a sister.
If unmarried do not marry,
And if married cease therefrom."
He nominated Ivan Souslof to be his son, Christ. Souslof
lived with a woman whom he called the " Mother-of-God "
and the " Daughter-of-God." He chose twelve Apostles
from among his adherents, and went with them along the
banks of the Oka, and the Volga, spreading his doctrine.
He collected his disciples in a decrepit and empty church
in the village of Rabdtniki on the Volga, and was there
worshipped by them. Souslof died in Moscow in 1716,
having handed on his authority to Loupkin.f
Among the adherents of the new sect were monks, and
at least one nun. Loupkin acknowledged his wife to be a
" Mother-of-God," and gathering twenty Apostles, spread
* Roussky Vtfstnik, July 1868.
t Livanof (1872), vol. i. p. 173. Stepniak, in The Russian Peasantry,
1894, p. 437.

100 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
his teaching in the Governments of Nizhni-Novgorod,
Vladimir, and YarosKf. In 1716 he and his Apostles
were arrested at Ouglitch, but he appears to have been
released, and to have lived in Moscow till 1732.
These mystics bound themselves by oaths not to
betray one another or to reveal the secrets of their sect.
Seeking to obtain inspiration in their religious meetings,
they twirled round, waved their arms "as angels wave
their wings," and beat themselves with sticks. They
quoted 2 Cor. vi. 16, as having special application to
themselves ; " We are a temple of the living God ; even
as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and
I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
They obtained many converts, including Docifius,
Bishop of Rostdf. After being deprived of his bishopric,
he was tortured and executed, in the presence of Peter the
Great, on the Red Place in Moscow, having his stomach
torn to pieces with pincers. One hundred and sixteen
sectarians were flogged with the knout and sent to various
parts of Siberia, and one prophetess and two prophets
among them were executed.
From Danelo Filipovitch a sect arose who called them
selves the Christs, but who are nicknamed the Hlists
(whips). Many of them are of Finnish origin, and the
old tribal customs of communism, not in goods only, but
also in women, may help to explain some of the most
remarkable peculiarities of the sect. The sex question
plays a very prominent part in their religion, but every
phase of opinion, from the advocacy of complete chastity
and celibacy to the practice of promiscuous debauchery
as part of their religious services, may be met with among
the subdivisions of the sect. The branch called the
Skoptsi submit to castration — and go even to greater

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 101
lengths of physical mutilation than that — in their eager
ness to escape from sexual desire. The women often have
part of their breasts cut away. The religious services of
the Hlists largely consist in invoking the Deity to come
down and inspire them. To bring this to pass, they
inflame their emotions by stamping and jumping, often
in scanty attire, by whipping themselves, and by shout
ing. All this sometimes leads up to an orgy of promis
cuous intercourse at the close of the religious gathering.
It is common in the sect to look upon monogamous
marriage as a selfish and wicked monopolization,* and to
consider marital relations as filthy and disgusting, while
casual sexual intercourse is regarded with tolerance or
even with approval. "Married life is impurity before
men and impiety before God," is one of their sayings.
We need not here discuss this extraordinary sect at
greater length. Let it suffice to note it as an example
of the lack of moderation and readiness to go all lengths,
which is so often met with among Russians.
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century we first
hear of the Quakers in Russia. In 1743 an edict was issued
against their doctrine, and in 1745 six hundred followers of
the sect were discovered. They never appear to have been
numerous in Russia. The points in which their influence
must have tended to strengthen the currents which led to
the formation of Doukhobdrism are : their attention to
the " inward voice " ; their rejection of Church ceremonies
and instrumental music ; their disapproval of oaths and of
war ; and, lastly, the independent attitude towards the
" powers that be," exemplified by their refusal to take off
their hats even to magistrates or kings. There are many
cases on record in which Doukhobdrs have, in like manner,
* Dr. P. Jacoby, Vestnik Eordpy, Oct. and Nov., 1903.

102 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
refused to remove their hats when brought before officials,
magistrates, and governors.
I can find no sufficient justification for the assertion,
often made, that the Doukhobdr sect was founded by a
Quaker, though at first sight this opinion gains some
probability from the close resemblance between many of
the opinions held by the Doukhobdrs and those taught
by the early Quakers.
By early Quaker and by Doukhobdr alike, Christ was
identified with the " inward voice," and with the capacity
to see a moral issue clearly and feel sure of what is right.
Neither primitive Quaker nor Doukhobdr rejected the
Christ executed in Judea many centuries ago, but to
neither of them was his life and death of as much import
ance as "the Christ within." The early Quakers gave a
second place to the Bible ; the Doukhobors, most of whom
were quite illiterate, hardly attached importance to it,
except indeed to those portions which had passed into
the Chants or " Psalms " they learnt by heart and used at
their meetings.
Had the " inward voice " been an invention of George
Fox's, and were it quite exceptional for men to think with
their own heads and be guided by their own consciences,
the conclusion that the Doukhobdrs sprang from a Quaker
origin would be almost irresistible. But the fact is that
in all ages and countries there have been men who knew
that we can, in reality, believe nothing but what we see
and feel to be true, and that any books or men or
churches we may take as authorities are (unless geography
decides the matter), after all, only selected as authorities
by us. The fundamental truth that George Fox expressed
incisively and powerfully, has been operating since before

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 103
the days when prophets and priests resisted each other's
influence in Jerusalem. Its workings may be traced more
frequently and strongly among the heretical, dissenting,
and reforming bodies than within the established churches,
but nowhere has it ever been quite inoperative.
The story that the Doukhobdr sect was founded by a
Quaker becomes more indefinite the farther we trace it back.
Novitsky merely mentions a man, said to be a retired non
commissioned Prussian officer, who lived and taught in a
village of the Kharkof Government about the year 1740,
and adds : "It was thought that this foreigner was a
Quaker, because his manner of life and the rules he
preached were quite in accord with the spirit of the
Quaker teaching."
The only ascertainable personal connection between the
Doukhobdrs and the Quakers before the recent persecution,
amounts to no more than the fact that English Quakers
have more than once, during the last century, visited the
Doukhobdrs, without sharing all their views ; for among
most modern Quakers the Bible, the Atonement, and the
" Scheme of Redemption " occupy a prominent place, while
the Doukhobdrs attach but slight importance to the Bible
as a book, and, for the most part, never heard of the
"Scheme of Redemption," which they would consider
immoral were it narrated to them.
On the other hand, the Quakers have never allowed to
any of their members such authority as it has been a con
spicuous part of the Doukhobdr polity to accord to their
Leaders. The worst excesses of James Naylor, who, in the
early days of Quakerism, allowed certain followers to accord
to him divine honours, are said to have been more than
paralleled in the past history of the Doukhobdrs. Even in
our own day those who have tried to fathom the question

104 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
of the Doukhobdr Leadership have found themselves
baffled, or have had to form their own guess.
Were Peter Verfgin's claims to the Leadership hered
itary or not? How was he selected? And what are
the limits of his authority ? No one who really knows
seems inclined to answer these questions explicitly.
That a small sect, frequently persecuted and exposed
to many dangers, should need a strong Leader vested with
extraordinary authority was natural enough. The puzzle
is, how they select their Leaders.
It was in the eighteenth century that anti-ecclesiastical
and rationalistic opinions which had long existed, crystal
lized definitely into the sects of the Molokans and Doukho
bdrs, whose names now begin to appear in history. The time
was suitable for the event. With few exceptions, neither
the priests nor the laity of the Russian Church paid much
attention to its teachings, and its condition was almost
incredibly bad. The priests were often so ignorant that
they could not read the service; very many parishes had
no priest at all, and where there was one, he was often a
drunkard of notoriously immoral life. From the time of
Peter the Great onwards, the influx of foreigners and the
Court favour enjoyed by them, tended to the debasement
of the Russian Church. Especially was this the case in
the reign of Anne. Biron, her favourite, as well as the
other foreign adventurers, Miinnich and Osterman, sup
ported Lutheranism, and did not allow the Russian
Church to attack it. The contrast between the ferocious
persecutions of the Raskdlniks at the end of the seven
teenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries,
and the neglect and humiliation of the Orthodox Church
in 1730-1740, is very remarkable. Bishops, priests,
and monks who offended the German favourites, were

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 105
disfrocked, punished, and tortured. Of the more than
twenty thousand people Biron sent to Siberia, many
were monks and priests. Stephen Yavdrsky, President
of the Holy Synod, wrote a book, The Rock of Faith,
directed against Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the ration
alism they helped to spread. The book met with success.
It reached its third edition in 1730 ; but at Biron's
instigation its republication was then prohibited. No
more Church Councils were summoned to condemn
heretics. There was little encouragement to the Orthodox
to persecute their opponents when, for instance, a
Metropolitan of Kief, for the offence of republishing
The Rock of Faith without permission, was deprived of
his rank, and sent to the Byelo Lake Monastery; and
Theophylact, another ecclesiastic, was arrested for no
particular cause, strictly examined, three times stripped
and beaten with rods, disfrocked as a monk, deprived of
his dignities, and finally imprisoned in the Petropavlovsk
fortress. To further degrade the priesthood in the eyes
of the people, Biron, in 1736, obtained a decree obliging
the sons of priests, as well as various servants of the
Church, to enter the army. There were 6,557 such
recruits in 1737.
We have now reached the commencement of the
Doukhobdr sect; though it would be impossible to give
an exact date when it appeared, or to draw a line
between the fluctuating currents of opinion which flowed
together to form the sect, and the doctrines of the sect
itself. The persecutions in Moscow, and wherever the Govern
ment was strongest, had driven those most dissatisfied
with Church or State to the less settled and less governed
outskirts of the Empire : districts which, though Russian,

106 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
were still a borderland where the population was subject
to little supervision, and could, at a pinch, escape to
foreign territory.
In those days, also, the Government deported sec
tarians to the Ukraine (or Borderland), as it now deports
them to the Caucasus. Here, too, lived the Cossacks
and many others who were hostile to the methods Peter I.
had introduced.
These were the times when serfdom was being
enforced in its worst form. Its evils were almost
beyond exaggeration. The wives and daughters of the
serfs were at the mercy of the proprietors. Runaways
were sometimes drowned, or otherwise done away with,
simply to save the trouble of restoring them to their
owners ; sometimes they were presented as a gift, or as a
bribe, to an official. The general disorder baffles de
scription. Monks in the monasteries entered into league
with brigands, as also did priests. The highest officials
were occupied with a series of palace revolutions; and
the whole policy of Russia turned, at times, on the
amatory intrigues of people among whom Catherine the
Great stood out as an exception rather by her ability
than by her unblushing profligacy.
The Doukhobdrs, as they come under our observation
at this period of history, recognized man's moral responsi
bility, and knew that, to live rationally, he must use those
faculties which enable him to distinguish right from wrong,
and they accepted the implication of that recognition :
that if right differs from wrong, and if morality is
important, there must be some ultimate Source and
Origin causing these things to be so.
The reaction resulting from the over-assertions of

SOURCES OF DOUKHOB6RISM 107
the Churches have often resulted in Secularism or in
Materialism : a state of mind inclined to deal only with
what can be verified by the senses, and which tries to
deduce morality from physical science, or from a know
ledge of the past. The weakness here is, that finding no
sufficient basis for morality, yet conscious that morality is
necessary, men adopting such a position have to. accept a
morality not properly belonging to their system of intel
lectual beliefs. Morality is logically out of place in their
creed ; for the true basis of morality, as of religion, lies in
the recognition of our moral consciousness as an ultimate
fact of our nature, coequally valid with our physical per
ceptions ; though, like them, it reveals not the whole truth,
but only such portion of truth as is necessary to enable
man to exist and to progress.
The Doukhobdrs, as we find them at their first appear
ance in the eighteenth century, in spite of their violent
reaction against the Churches, had nothing of the materialist
spirit in them. They based their knowledge of the moral
universe on the evidence of " the voice within," just as they
based their knowledge of the physical universe on the
evidence of their five senses.
What distinguished them from other sects was their
strong tendency to reject all external authorities. The
ultimate authority in all matters of Church or State was,
td them, the " voice within " : the working of each man's
own reason and conscience. That, at least, was the theory.
In practice, no doubt, from the very first, men of strong
intellect dominated the weaker brethren.
In the hands of such men as Sylvan Kolesnikof (whose
activity as a religious teacher among the Doukhobdrs of
the Government of Ekaterinoslaf dates from about 1750
to about 1775) the doctrines of the sect seem to have been

108 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
at their best. By a long process of bold criticism, in the
course of which many men suffered martyrdom, the result
had been reached that no external authority : Church,
State, Priest, Tsar, Tradition, or Bible, can be trusted to
supply pure truth. At the same time there was among
them, no doubt, much confusion, vagueness, superstition
and error, and much acceptance, as though it were fully
proven, of what was only plausible. It is so in all move
ments, and it was necessarily so in an eighteenth century
Russian peasant movement, in which the mentally powerful
leaders had no one to check them, and where there must
often have been a great intellectual gap between leaders
and followers. Speaking broadly — and admitting the
scanty and fragmentary character of the evidence — I
think the main characteristics of the movement can be
shown to have been : (1) A reliance on the workings of
each man's own reason and conscience, as putting him in
communication with the source of all religion and morality,
and (2) a strongly critical and negative attitude towards
all existing institutions that claimed authority over man's
religion and conduct.
No mention has been made in this chapter of the
Mennonites and other kindred sects ; or of the Fifth-
Monarchy men, the Levellers, and many other repre
sentatives of democratic religion in our own history, but
enough has, I hope, been said to show that the Doukho
bdrs present no isolated phenomenon, but belong to a
persistent, ever-recurring stream of thought and feeling,
which may be traced back for centuries, and . which,
we may be sure, in spite of all the errors, exaggera
tions, and perversions that have accompanied it, will
continue to exert an influence as long as independence of
thought is valued, the usurpation of authority resented,

SOURCES OF DOUKHOBORISM 109
or freedom, equality and brotherhood are desired among
men.
Some one has said that there are but two religions in
the world : Roman Catholicism and Quakerism. Indeed,
it is true that these represent permanent tendencies in
human nature, and all religions tend in the one direction
or the other. Each type has its own advantage and its
defect. The one, recognizing an external authority as
supreme, can more easily get men of different minds to
keep step and use the same formularies ; and it can, there
fore, obtain greater visible results. It is easier to collect
and drill a million Roman Catholics than a thousand
Quakers. The drawback of Roman Catholicism is that its
adherents think within a cage. They may use their minds
up to the point at which they strike against the decrees of
the infallible Church, but no further.
The advantage of the Quaker position, at its freest and
its best, is that man may use his powers of thought and
conscience to their utmost extent; and a man endowed
with capacity to discern a truth no one else yet has formu
lated, is free to utter it, unshackled by what his predecessors
may have said. The disadvantage of the position is, that
he has no royal mint to go to, where his ingots of truth
may be stamped to pass current among the mass of men
as readily as the well-worn coins of the ancient Church.
The Doukhobdrs, when we first hear anything of them,
belong to the Quaker type of religion, but, — and this is
remarkable in their history, — they show how extremes
meet ; for, in the nineteenth century, a considerable group
of them slipped over from the extremest form of democratic
to the extremest form of autocratic religion, and did this
unconsciously, and with hardly a protest of which any record
has come down to us.

110 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Such an event: that in a couple of years an entire
group passes apparently from the extreme of spiritual
independence to the extreme of spiritual submission, shows
how far the tenets professed by a sect often are from per
meating their minds; and how difficult, delicate, and
complex a problem we have before us when we try to
understand a religion not our own.
For a Chronological Summary of events mentioned in Chapters III.
and IV., see Appendix III.

CHAPTER IV
DOUKHOBOR HISTORY
In the Ukraine, in what is now the Government of KMr-
kof, at the village of Ohdtch, in the last years of the first
half of the eighteenth century, there lived (so the Dou
khobdrs related when their sect was discovered by the
authorities later in the century) a foreigner, by some
accounts a Prussian non-commissioned officer (but said also
to have been a Quaker), who acted among them as adviser
and instructor. * He settled their disputes, co-operated in
their work, and was as a judge and friend among them.
He had no fixed place of residence, but moved from house
to house till his death. He taught that " Governments
are unnecessary, all men are equal, the hierarchy and the
priesthood are a human invention, the Church and its
ceremonies are superfluous, monasticism is a perversion of
human nature, the conspiracy of the proprietors is a dis
grace to mankind, and the Tsar and Archbishops are just
like other people." f A teaching of this kind could
hardly fail to find followers at such a time and place.
There is every reason to consider this anonymous leader
to have been a man of high character, who was devoted
to the service of his fellows.
* Livtoof, vol. i., p. 343. See also Novitsky.
f One finds a similar opposition to established authorities, and a
similar assertion of the equality of all men, in Tolstoy's writings to-day :

112 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The injustice of serfdom provoked the assertion of the
natural equality of man. The hardship of the cruel
military service, to which men were sent for twenty-five
years, gave additional force to the announcement that
war and oaths of allegiance are wrong. The corruption,
the exactions, and the ignorant stupidity of the officials,
provoked the doctrine that the sons of God need no rule
but His. These doctrines this anonymous leader pro
claimed, and around him the nucleus of the Doukhobdr
sect formed itself.
take, for instance, the following passage from Chapter VI. of What is
Art ? Speaking of the men of the Middle Ages he says —
" That Christian teaching which they professed in a perverted form
as Church doctrine, had mapped out the path of human progress so far
ahead, that they had but to rid themselves of those perversions whieh
hid the teaching announced by Christ, and to adopt its real meaning — if
not completely, then at least in some greater degree than that in which
the Church had held it. And this was partially done, not only in the
reformations of Wyclif, Huss, Luther, and Calvin, but by all that current of
non-Church Christianity, represented in earlier times by the Paulicians, the
Bogomilites, and, afterwards, by the Waldenses and the other non-Church
Christians who were called heretics. But this could be, and was, done
chiefly by poor people — who did not rule. A few of the rich and strong,
like Francis of Assisi and others, accepted the Christian teaching in its
full significance, even though it undermined their privileged positions.
But most people of the upper classes (though in the depth of their souls
they had lost faith in the Church teaching) could not, or would not, act
thus, because the essence of that Christian view of life, which stood ready
to be adopted when once they rejected the Church faith, was a teaching
of the brotherhood (and therefore the equality) of man, and this nega
tived those privileges on which they lived, in which they had grown up
and been educated, and to which they were accustomed. Not, in the
depths of their hearts, believing in the Church teaching — which had out
lived its age and had no longer any true meaning for them, and not being
strong enough to accept true Christianity, men of these rich, governing
classes, popes, kings, dukes, and all the great ones ofthe earth — were left
without any religion, with but the external forms of one, which they sup
ported as being profitable and even necessary for themselves, sinoe these
forms screened a teaching which justified those privileges which they
made use of."

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 113
There was much of the spirit of George Fox in all this,
but neither Fox nor the Quakers as a sect, denied the
need of a civil magistracy. To the Quakers a defective
civil government seemed better than none at all, while
to the Doukhobdrs, on the contrary, civil government
appeared to be in itself an evil.
Doukhobdrism, by the way, has never had any suc
cess among the upper classes. No priest has ever been
converted to it, nor, with the exception of some Cossack
officers, do we hear of any converts of higher rank than
a couple of non-commissioned officers, a wool-dealer, and
one or two yeomen.
The first Doukhobdr leader whose name we can give,
was Sylvan Kolesnikof, of the village of Nikdlsk in the
Government of .fcilcaterinoslaf, who has been already men
tioned in the preceding chapter. He was a man who
could read; which among the common people of those days
was a rare accomplishment. He had tact and prudence,
and was remarkably well informed. His strict life and
generosity and kindliness attracted people to him ; and his
sermons carried conviction both by the suitability of
his message to his audience and by his gift of natural
eloquence. Sylvan Kolesnikofs propaganda was very successful,
and he lived to a good old age without coming into con
flict with the authorities. He taught his followers that,
as the externalities of religion are unimportant, they
might conform to the ceremonial religion of whatever
province or country they happened to be in : behaving as
Catholics in Poland, Orthodox in Russia, or Mohammedans
in Turkey or Persia.
One of Kolesnikofs sayings was, that if each man
would renounce himself, there would be neither personal i

114 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
sins and vices, nor public evils and crimes. Another was,
"Let us bow to the God in one another, for we are the
image of God on earth." He taught that " by the cleans
ing of repentance, and the enlightenment of spiritual
instruction, men reach the sweetness of union with God." *
Among a very ignorant, ill-governed people, neglected
by a corrupt Church, it is easy to imagine that the authority
of a thoughtful, eloquent man, devoting himself to their
instruction, and willing to organize a sect, may have been
very strong. The gap between such a leader and the bulk
of his followers will probably have been great. In all sects
one finds that the majority of the members have been
attracted more by the hypnotism of some stronger mind,
or by the influence of friends or relations, than by any
very intelligent appreciation of the doctrines of the sect.
To get a suitable leader is essential to the starting of a
sect, and to secure a satisfactory succession of good leaders
is all-important for its growth.
The Doukhobdr tenets of Sylvan Kolesnikof seem
not to have differed much from those described in the
first chapter of this book ; but it may be noted in passing
that he held the doctrine that men's souls fell before the
creation of the world, and that we are, in fact, fallen
angels. Similar ideas were being expressed, about the
same time, by L. C. de Saint-Martin ("the French
Bdhme"), whose writings had considerable influence
among the educated classes of Moscow and Petersburg.
In the latest phases of Doukhobdr history we have a
remarkable instance of the degree to which the present
Doukhobdr Leader was influenced by the teaching of
Tolstoy, and of the curious way in which that teaching
* Besides Novitsky and Livdnof, see also an article by I. Harlamof
in the Roiisskaya Misl, 1884.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 115
(reaching the sect as the opinion of their own Leader)
modified their former tenets. Were it possible to do so,
it would be interesting to ascertain in how far the
opinions expressed by the Doukhobdrs at the end of the
eighteenth century were merely an echo of the words of
Saint-Martin, accepted by the sect owing to Kolesnikofs
influence ; or in how far the influences which had shaped
Saint-Martin's opinions had also shaped the views of the
Doukhobdrs independently of any influence the works of
the French philosopher may have had upon the Doukho
bdr Leader. What may safely be asserted is, that the
views we find expressed by a peasant sect are often those
supplied to it by some one man, who, in turn, has often
taken his opinion largely from some one writer with whose
views he has become acquainted either through books or
by conversation. That, under the circumstances of the time, this
peasant sect should have been able to formulate such
reasonable and coherent views as those which have come
down to us as having been expressed by its members at the
first official inquiries made by the representatives of the
Russian Church and State (towards the end ofthe eighteenth
century), seems wonderful ; but what we know of the life
of the philosopher, Gregory Skovoroda, who, report says,
drew up for the Doukhobdrs the confession of faith they
supplied to the Governor of Ekaterinoslaf, throws some
light on the manner in which such ideas were formulated.
Skovoroda was born in the Kief district in 1722. His
parents were common Cossacks of good repute. He
became a chorister at the Court of the Empress Elizabeth.
Afterwards, at Kief, he studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,
as well as philosophy, natural history, and theology. His
father wished him to enter the Church, but Skovoroda

116 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
was too deeply religious a man to fall in with his
father's suggestion and become what he called " a whited
sepulchre." Pressure being brought to bear on him by
the Archbishop of Kief, his aversion to the ecclesiastical
profession induced young Skovoroda to have recourse to
deception. He pretended to lose his wits, spoke in an
altered voice, and stammered. By these means he escaped
from his bursary and became free to live where he liked.
His knowledge of church music obtained for him a place
in the suite of General Vishnevsky, who received a diplo
matic appointment in Hungary about that time. This
gave Skovoroda a chance to visit Austria, and, as he spoke
Latin and German well and also understood Greek, he
was able to make acquaintance among scholars and to
add greatly to his store of knowledge. He subsequently
visited Poland, Prussia, Germany and Italy, and became
convinced that the reign of injustice and the oppression
of the poor by the rich, were not confined to any one
country. Returning to Russia on foot, and finding his
parents dead, he acted for a short time as master in the
Kharkof College, and then adopted the life of a wanderer.
Carrying a Hebrew Bible and a flute, he went on foot
from village to village and from city to city, giving to
others by his advice, conversation and music, far more
than an equivalent for the little he accepted of them. By
avoiding all posts of emolument in Church or State, he
retained freedom to criticize, and he was always bold in
speaking of the misdeeds of the powerful and in pleading
the cause of the humble and meek. He knew both the
Molokans and Doukhobdrs, and must have been of use to
both, though he was too educated and intelligent a man
to belong to either sect.
The service that an honest, disinterested man of this

DOUKHOBOR HISTORV 117
kind could confer on the peasant population of the
Ukraine, who were as sheep without a shepherd, must
have been very great. Not to burden those on whom he
lived, he confined himself to the plainest clothing and the
coarsest food. He was, among other things, a musical
composer, and the Molokans still make use of verses and
of tunes borrowed from him. He died in 1794.
Even iri our own day of cheap books and general
primary education, a really wise and disinterested man
devoting his life to migratory instruction and discussion,
might do good work. In the Ukraine of the eighteenth
century such service was of inestimable value. The habit
of wandering about is still quite common in Russia.
Even to-day a Pilgrim on tramp may count on getting
something to eat and somewhere to sleep at any peasant's
hut he comes to. To go on pilgrimage is a cheap way of
getting a change and a holiday, and has even a flavour of
sanctity about it. In some of Tolstoy's writings one
meets with a suggestion that the really good man would
have no settled place of residence, but would wander from
place to place ; the common sense of the matter being, I
take it, that a man like Skovoroda, who renders much
service and consumes little, is a benefactor, though people
who systematically and regularly go on tramp, rendering
little service and consuming more than they are worth,
are apt to become, in the strictest sense of the word,
malefactors. Generally speaking, a man who wants to work
wants a settled place to work in, and some accustomed
tools to work with. The mere fact of a man being
migratory or stationary supplies no guide to the worth
or worthlessness of his character.
We have now come to the place in Doukhobdr history
which illustrates the old saying that "extremes meet."

118 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Criticism of external authority and reliance on individual
inspiration, had brought the sect to a point at which one
short, disastrous step placed them again under an external
authority, and led to a state of deception which has lasted
to our own day, and with which the Canadian Govern
ment has yet to reckon.
Ilaridn Pobirdhin was a well-to-do wool dealer, living
in the village of Goreloe in Tambdf. His business caused
him to move about and to see many places and people.
He was a reader, and fond of religious discussions. He is
said to have been a man of attractive character, eloquent,
but strongly opinionated. He did not consider the Bible
authoritative, and taught that " truth is not in books but
in the spirit, not in the Bible but in the ' Living Book.' "
Adopting the Doukhobdr faith, he became the recognized
leader in his own district, and made a very important
addition to, or rather perversion of, their doctrines. Not
content with recognizing himself to be a son of God like
others, inspired by the holy spirit sufficiently to enable
him to discern his duty and progress towards perfection,
he claimed to be Christ. A similar claim has been re
peatedly made by the leaders of other sects ; in fact
in Eastern Christendom there have been claimants for
divine honours from very early times, and among the
Hlists and Skoptsi one loses all count of the number of
Christs. Even in the western world, as the case of Ann
Lee the foundress of the Shakers, and the more recent
example of Pigott serve to remind us, pretensions of
the same sort are not unknown. Pobirdhin's arrogance
does not appear to have shocked his followers. He
proceeded to establish a theocratic despotism. Twelve
apostles were chosen, and twelve " Death-bearing Angels "
appointed to punish all who relapsed after once becoming

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 119
Doukhobdrs. Among his tenets was that of the infalli
bility of his Church. Collecting the Doukhobdrs of his
district together into one place, he introduced communism
among them. The ablest of his assistants appears to have
been Simeon Ouklein,* who married his daughter. Ouklein,
however, was remarkably well read in the Bible and could
not stand Pobirdhin's authoritative interpretations and
emendations; so he ultimately deserted Pobirdhin and
went over to the Molokans, among whom he became a
leader. It is noticeable that the Molokans, who base their
teaching on the Bible, and the Doukhobdrs, who base theirs
on the " voice within," are inimical to one another, as was
seen when, under Alexander I., it was proposed to let
some Molokans settle at the Milky Waters near the
Doukhobdrs. f
Pobirdhin towards the end of his life increased in self-
confidence and self-assurance. He was proud, boastful,
and dictatorial in settling questions. Ultimately he came
into conflict with the civil authorities, was committed for
trial, and was sent, with his children and with some of his
apostles, to live in Siberia. Pobirdhin seems to have been
chiefly active about the years 1775-85.
Towards the close of the eighteenth century, the
picture we get of the Doukhobdrs is that they were
' scattered about, from the Volga southward and westward
over Southern Russia, with adherents in various other
parts of the empire. In Finland, Archangel and Siberia,
small groups of Doukhobdrs are met with, who had been
banished to those parts by the Government. The inter-
* Livanof, vol. i. p. 263.
t In the same way certain Stundists who are now settled near the
Doukhobdrs in Canada, find the latter very unfriendly neighbours.

120 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
mittency of persecution during the reigns of Catherine
the Great and Paul illustrates the haphazard methods of
government that prevailed. No common principle seems
to have influenced the authorities in different provinces,
or in different years. The tenets of the sect at that time
were variously expressed by the Doukhobdrs of different
parts, but the general tendency was one of rejection of
church rites and church authority, an attitude of more or
less marked disapproval of the civil authorities, and a dis
approval of war and oaths. The' Bible is often quoted for
polemical purposes, but does not constitute an authority
to which the Doukhobdrs owe primary allegiance.
The first attempt to draw the sect into a compact com
munity, and the first assumption of divine authority by
a Doukhobdr leader, belohejio the last quarter of the
eighteenth century.
Pobirdhin's successor was Savely Kapoustin, the most
remarkable of all the Doukhobdr Leaders. According to
some accounts he was a son of Pobirdhin's, and was taken
as a recruit as a punishment for being a Doukhobdr.
However that may be, it seems that he served as corporal
in the Guards, and, after leaving the army, assumed the
post left vacant by Pobirdhin's banishment to Siberia.
Novitsky conjectures that Kapoustin, who was born in
1743, would have completed his twenty-five years' service
by about 1790, and that is probably about the time when
he became Leader of the Tambdf Doukhobdrs.
He was a tall man, well built (as all the Guards were),
had an imposing gait and appearance, an amazing memory,
great ability, and remarkable eloquence. His ascendency
over the Doukhobdrs who came under his influence, seems
to have been complete.
According to the law ofthe times, his son would be liable

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 121
to serve in the army as he himself had done. Kapoustin,
therefore, made arrangements that the boy should be
officially illegitimate. For this purpose he sent his wife
back to her own family, the Kalmikdfs, before the child
was born, and let the boy pass by their name. After this,
Kapoustin remarried his wife. This explains how it was
that the dynasty founded by Kapoustin, has borne the
family name of Kalmikdf.
It is difficult to be sure of the correctness of many
statements made about the Doukhobdrs, for they have
no written records of their own and have always been
unwilling to allow outsiders to pry into the secrets of
their sect; besides this, the official records concerning
them, and concerning trials in which they were concerned
have, for the most part, not been published. One con
tinually meets, therefore, with contradictory evidence, and
has to pick one's way cautiously, knowing that the
publication of State documents may, some day, show
things in a fresh light.
On the assassination of Paul, Alexander I. came to
the throne and reigned from 1801 to 1825. In his early
years he showed himself humane and tolerant, though the
last years of his reign were reactionary. This change of
disposition and policy are reflected on the history of the
Doukhobdrs, about whom during his reign we have more
official information than we possess for any other period.
The Senators Lopouhin and Neledinsky-Meletsky
reported to Alexander the foolishly harsh treatment the
Doukhobdrs were receiving at the hands of various local
authorities. This led to a series of instructions being
issued by the Emperor to the Governors of the provinces,
in which he insisted on the uselessness and harmfulness of

122 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
persecution as a remedy for religious error. At the same
time, Alexander did not intend to allow the sectarians
to proselytize, and he, therefore, approved of a plan for
their migration to the Milky Waters, a fertile district
named after a river that flows through it and runs into
the Sea of Azof.
When the permission was given, secret adherents to
the sect appeared in many parts of the country.
In 1801, thirty Doukhobdr families were transported
thither as an experiment, and their settlement proving
very successful other Doukhobdrs from various Govern
ments began to petition to be allowed to join them. At
fyst these permissions were readily granted, the Govern
ments sometimes even paying the cost of the migration
besides making a liberal grant of fertile land and allowing
freedom from taxation for a period of five years. This
was, however, by no means a general permission extend
ing to all Doukhobdrs. They were liable to be treated
differently in each Government. In 1812 we find the
intended migration of some parties of Doukhobdrs for
bidden on account of the Napoleonic invasion ; and soon
after that date we find an increasing disinclination to
permit the further increase of what was becoming a con
spicuously successful and favoured sectarian settlement.
Having been placed on an equality with the Mennonite
and other Colonists, who had been invited to settle in
Russia, the Doukhobdrs of the Milky Waters may be
said to have held, at this time, a privileged position in
comparison with the Orthodox peasant; but, of course,
Doukhobdrs who were serfs of private proprietors were
not allowed to migrate to the Milky Waters, as they
would thus have escaped from their owners.
A curious fact to be noticed, moreover, is that

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D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 123
Alexander I., in spite of his beneficent intentions and
humane decrees, was unable to stop the persecution of the
Doukhobdrs. Again and again during his reign, now
here and now there, now on one pretext and now on
another, the local authorities worried and tormented them.
Year by year those who wished to migrate to the " Milky
Waters " found it more and more difficult to get leave to
go there ; and at last, before Alexander's death, further
migrations thither were quite prohibited.
The following story shows what was possible in those
days. In a certain village of the Tambdf Government,
some officially Orthodox peasants, who bore the character
of being well-behaved and industrious, refused to receive
the priest who came to visit them at Christmas. They
would not go up to him to kiss the cross, nor did they
give him the usual presents. When official inquiry was
made, they explained their conduct by stating that they
had suffered much rudeness and violence at the hands of
this unworthy priest. The magistrate, before whom the
case was examined, reported that the peasants had been
guilty of rudeness, and of perverting the Orthodox by
holding heretical gatherings. The case was sent for trial
to the Tambdf courts. There the peasants declared that
they were not Orthodox, but had been induced externally
to conform to the Church by threats the priest had used.
As to their real beliefs, they explained that they did not
respect the Church, nor the cross, nor the Gospels, nor icdns
which are made by men's hands. They did not believe in
communion, confession, or baptism. They hated priests
and did not let them into their houses. They did not
keep the fasts of the Church, but partook of milk and
flesh, except pig's flesh, which they refrained from " in
order to escape the fate of the Orthodox, and not to

124 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
perish." They had no marriage, but lived lovingly with
whom they chose. They buried their dead at home, and
served God in the spirit, strengthened and confirmed by
the spirit, from which spirit they received the sword,
with which spiritual sword they waged war and overcame
all things. They declared that they rendered obedience
to the authorities, and refrained from converting the
Orthodox to their sect.
The two chief offenders, of the nine accused, were
sentenced to be knouted, and banished to the town of
Kola, in Archangel ; the other seven were to be severely
flogged in public, and all their children were to be
baptized. Two of the offenders died of their flogging.
On the morning of April 14, 1803, a Doukhobdr,
named Zot Mouzhoseyef, drove up in a peasant cart to
the house of the Governor of Tambdf, Palitsin.
" Is the Governor at home ? " asked he of the sentinel.
" His Excellency is not at home."
"Then let his wife know that I have brought a
present." The Governor's steward came to see what was on the
cart. Mouzhoseyef, however, would not let him examine
it, but, taking the horse from the cart, got on its back
and rode off, leaving the cart in the Governor's yard.
The servants naturally hastened to examine the cart, and
they found on it a corpse, discoloured with dark-blue
bruises and wales. It was the body of the peasant Peter
Drdbishof, one of the two who had been flogged to death
by the police.
Mouzhoseyef was overtaken, brought back, and ques
tioned. At his examination he stated that, " On
April 13, the peasant Ermakdf brought my own brother
Sergey to me ; many people were following him — men and

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 125
women. My brother was being held up by his arms, and
could hardly stand on his feet. I placed him on the bed,
and Ermakdf told me : ' Your brother Sergey is ill after
being publicly flogged with other Doukhobdrs of our
village. He was punished for his faith's sake, by the
Assessor von Menik.' Next day I went to see those who
had been flogged, and among them visited Peter Drdbishof
— whom I found already dead. Near his body sat his
little son (whose name I don't remember) crying. Then
I took the dead body and drove with it to the Governor,
to ask for protection. . . ."
Palitsin, the Governor, was much offended by Mou-
zhoseyef's conduct, and addressed a complaint to the
Minister of the Interior, stating that —
"During my absence from home, extreme agitation
and offence have been caused, and a great insult offered,
to my whole family."
On inquiries it transpired that von Menik had been in
the habit of punishing the peasants unmercifully. He
compelled the Doukhobdr girls to kiss him ; put peasants
into the stocks, and made heavy requisitions upon them ;
so that, for instance, he had collected sashes alone for a
value of thirty rubles from them, and also demanded one
hundred rubles in money, saying, "If you don't give it,
I'll have you all knouted and send you to exile."
Besides Peter Drdbishof himself, his father Philip
Drdbishof also died, five days after the flogging.
Dr. Drougof, called as a medical expert, deposed that
"The punishment inflicted on the Doukhobdrs was not
excessive, and they died, probably, from taking poison,
which may have caused the dark-blue spots and other
marks on the backs and bellies of the deceased."
Zot Mouzhoseyef was sentenced to be knouted and

126 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
banished to Archangel ; while five other peasants were to
be beaten with rods.
A new trial was ordered, however, and the punish
ments reduced to a few strokes with the rod. The
Minister of Justice, Prince Lopouhin, then laid the case
before the Emperor, the sentence was quashed, and it
was decided that the peasants should migrate from that
locality.* While scenes such as this were still going on in the
interior of Russia, quite a different wind was blowing in
the capitals, and among advanced circles elsewhere. The
Freemasons were prominent, with projects of universal
brotherhood. The Martinists (borrowing their name from
Louis Claude de Saint Martin), a branch of Freemasons
tinged with religious mysticism, were also numerous and
active. A Tugendbund was formed to promote the practice
of the virtues. In 1812 the Petersburg Bible Society was
founded, and was zealously supported by many of the
aristocracy, as well as by the Molokans and other peasant
sectarians. Alexander himself, midway through his
reign, became concerned about spiritual matters, though
politically he grew more reactionary. Visiting England in
1814, he was interested by the Quakers who laid their
peace principles before him, and he even invited some of
them to visit Russia. All this was characteristic of
Alexander's reign, just as the suppression of the Russian
branch of the Bible Society in 1826 (two years after it
had issued a complete Russian version of the New Testa
ment) was characteristic of the regime introduced by
Nicholas I., whose Minister of Public Instruction joined
the Arch-Abbot Totius in denouncing the Bible Society
* The aooount by M. Tebenkof, in the Rodsskaya Starind, 1896,
supplements Novitsky's account of the same ocourrenoe.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 127
as "a revolutionary association, intended for the over
throw of thrones and churches, and of law, order, and
religion throughout the world, with a view to establishing
an universal republic." This opinion was based, no doubt,
on the fact that some members of the Bible Society
were in favour of reform, and probably did not know
exactly how far they were willing to go ; and that the
social and political implications of the Bible (which, in
a country such as England is to-day, pass off people's
minds like water off a duck's back) may, where the
book is read less habitually but more intelligently,
produce explosive effects ; as history has more than once
shown. The Doukhobdr Settlement at the Milky Waters
gradually increased. A considerable addition was made
to their numbers in 1805, when many Tambdf Doukho-
^bdrs joined them and Kapoustin was invited to become
their Leader. By 1816 there were nine villages number
ing 1,459 " souls " (i.e. males), or about three thousand
inhabitants. A much greater number of Doukhobdrs
remained scattered over Russia, but the group at the
Milky Waters represents the largest compact body ; and,
as they took a quite peculiar line and development of
their own, and are the ancestors of the Doukhobdrs now
in Canada, I shall confine my attention to them ; the
accounts extant of the other Doukhobdrs being indeed
i/o fragmentary that to write a consecutive history of them
would hardly be possible.
It deserves to be noted, however, that considerable con
fusion results from the use of the same name " Doukhobdr "
both by rationalist sectarians scattered about in Russia
and Siberia, and by the group that, under Kapoustin's
domination, lost the freedom of thought that had been

128 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
characteristic of the sect, and became a clan yielding blind
obedience to hereditary leaders.
We have, during Alexander's reign, quite a considerable
number of enactments relating to the Doukhobdrs, as well
as of petitions presented by them to the Government ; but
of what went on within the community at Milky Waters
(which now became a nation within a nation) we know
little. What information we do possess is largely derived
from Baron A. von Haxthausen, who, having published an
exhaustive treatise on Prussian land tenure, was invited by
Nicholas I., in 1843-44, to make a similar investigation
concerning Russia. His book, Studien uber die inneren
Zustande, das Volkleben, und insbesondere die landlichen
Einrichtungen Russlands (3 vols. 1847-52), contains an
interesting account of the Doukhobdrs. He obtained his
information chiefly from some very intelligent and observant
Mennonites, who lived near the Doukhobdr settlement and
had taken great pains to acquaint themselves with the beliefs
and habits of their neighbours. Haxthausen's statements
have been disputed, and he certainly makes mistakes in
names and dates, and brings one accusation against the
Doukhobdrs (that of the infanticide of sickly or crippled
infants) which finds no confirmation elsewhere. But the
subsequent history of the sect inclines one to accept
Haxthausen's account as being correct in the main,
though not in all its details.
It might have been expected that the Doukhobdrs,
who had been so critical and denunciatory of all govern
ment, would get into trouble when it came to forming
their own administration ; for it is much easier to criticize
than to construct, and in a peasant sect it might be
expected that some of the adherents would be backward,
ignorant, and hard to manage. No difficulty, however,

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 129
appears to have been encountered in the organization of
the community. From the very start, order reigned in
the new Settlement, and it advanced rapidly in prosperity,
gave the Russian authorities, for many years, little
trouble, and extorted high praise for good order and
success in agriculture, from those who visited it. What
happened was that Kapoustin established himself as abso
lute ruler, and instilled into the people habits of secrecy
with reference to all that concerned the sect, and of
implicit obedience to himself. This is what Haxthausen
says: "All subjected themselves willingly to him, and he
ruled like a king, or rather a prophet. He expounded
the tenets of the Doukhobdrs in a manner to turn them
to his own peculiar profit and advantage. He attached
peculiar importance to the doctrine of the transmigration
of souls, which was already known among them ; he also
taught that Christ is born again in every believer ; that
God is in every one, for when the Word became flesh it
became this (i.e. man in the world) for all time, like every
thing divine. But each human soul, at least as long as
the created world exists, remains a distinct individual.
Now, when God descended into the individuality of Jesus
as Christ, He sought out the purest and most perfect man
that ever existed, and the soul of Jesus was the purest and
most perfect of all human souls. God, since the time
when He first revealed himself in Jesus, has always
remained in the human race, and dwells and reveals Him
self in every believer. But the individual soul of Jesus,
where has it been ? By virtue of the law of the trans
migration of souls, it must necessarily have animated
another human body ! Jesus himself said, ' I am with
you always, until the end of the world.' Thus the soul

130 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
of Jesus, favoured by God above all human souls, has from
generation to generation continually animated new bodies ;
and by virtue of its higher qualities, and by the peculiar
and absolute command of God, it has invariably retained
a remembrance of its previous condition. Every man,
therefore, in whom it resided, knew that the soul of Jesus
was in him. In the first centuries after Christ this was
so universally acknowledged among believers, that every
one recognized the new Jesus, who was the guide and
ruler of Christendom, and decided all disputes respecting
the Faith. The Jesus thus always bom again was called
Pope. False Popes, however, soon obtained possession of
the throne of Jesus ; but the true Jesus only retained a
small band of believers about him, as he predicted in the
New Testament, ' Many are called, but few are chosen.'
These believers are the Doukhobdrs, among whom Jesus
constantly dwells, his soul animating one of them. ' Thus
Sylvan Kolesnikof, of Nikdlsk,' said Kapoustin, ' whom
the older among you knew, was Jesus ; but now, as truly
as the heaven is above me and the earth under my feet, I
am the true Jesus Christ your Lord ! ' "
Kapoustin introduced, for a while, community of
goods. The fields were tilled in common, and the harvests
divided among all. Storehouses were built to provide
against years of dearth, various industries were started,
and the Colony made visible progress.
It has been mentioned that some Russian sects, nearly
related in other ways to the Doukhobdrs, have community
of women ; and wherever community of goods is prac
tised there is likely to be some tendency towards com
munity of women also. The same type of mind that
objects to definiteness and explicitness in property rela
tions, often objects to definiteness and explicitness in

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 131
marital relations also. To the credit of the Doukhobdrs
be it said that— though some attempt was at one time
made to introduce community of women among them, and
though now and then one hears reports of some disorder,
or, more often, of some licence allowed to the Leaders —
on the whole, comparing them with other sects, and
excepting one short period of their history, the sex
question appears to have occasioned but little trouble
among them.
y Isolated and subject to the rule of a strong and able
Leader, a " cake of custom " formed itself among and
around the Doukhobdrs, and they ceased to be propagan
dists. Kapoustin adopted every means to retain their
allegiance. He appointed thirty Elders and twelve
Apostles, by whose aid he governed. The common
members of the sect were discouraged from learning to
read or write. The occupations approved of for them
were agriculture and handicrafts. Trade and commerce
were discouraged as likely to engender covetousness ; also,
perhaps, as causing intercourse with " Chaldeans," or out
siders, whose opinions and practices might be harmful to
the " chosen people."
Intercourse with the Russian authorities was carried
on by Kapoustin and his nominees. The taxes were paid
by them for the whole Colony, so that it appeared to the
Doukhobdrs that the semi-independence of Kapoustin's
dominion was recognized by the Suzerain Power to whom
tribute was paid. Absolute and unquestioning obedience
/to their Leaders was required of them, and they were
taught that the Leader was free at any time to dispose of
the person or property of any member of the sect.* One
* See, for this period and especially for a later period of their history,
M. TeTrenkof s very interesting article in the Roiisskaya Btarind, 1896,

132 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
also here and there comes across allusions to the Leader's
miraculous powers, but these references are rather vague.
The result of Kapoiistin's influence was to convert what
ad been an ultra-democratic, anti-Governmental sect, into
society in which he was an autocrat controlling not only
the persons and property, but even the very thoughts of
his subjects.
The Doukhobdrs were trained (and the traces of this
are still evident to-day) to conceal their real beliefs from
outsiders, and to be most careful not to involve their Leader
in any difficulty by admitting that he dictated their actions.
Any course decided upon by the Doukhobdrs is, even to
day, usually justified to outsiders by the use of texts from
the Bible, not because such texts are authoritative to the
Doukhobdrs, but because they are a safe way of expressing
their decisions.
Among the regulations adopted by Kapoustin was one
to the effect that the Doukhobdrs should not apply to the
Russian courts of justice. All their disputes were to be
settled among themselves.
Their behaviour to Russian officials who visited the
Colony, was to be modest and respectful; they were to
lift their hats as they approached them, to bow low, and
to reply to inquiries in set terms learnt by heart in advance.
Their duty was to work hard all their lives, at agriculture,
cattle-breeding, and carting.
. After some years, Kapoustin, growing old, abandoned
the communal system, and allowed private property to be
held. It is alleged that when the communal property was
divided up, the share allotted by him to his own family
of which I have made considerable use. Its bias is towards the Govern
ment side, but it helps to explain many things which are absolutely un
intelligible as long as only the pro-Doukhobor accounts are read.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 133
was very large, but we do not hear of any protest being
made by his subjects.
An institution which added greatly to the Leader's
power, was the " Orphans' Home," founded ostensibly to
secure the welfare of aged widows and orphans. This
nominal purpose was not of much importance among the
Doukhobdrs, who deserve credit for the way in which the
weaker members are looked after in their own or in some
other family. The real purpose of the Orphans' Home
seems to have been rather, under a safe disguise, to supply
a seat of Government, and form a treasury to meet
emergencies, and to centralize the power of the sect.
For the maintenance of this institution a large estate
was placed practically at the uncontrolled disposal of
the Leader, who for official purposes in relation to the
Russian Government figured as " The Manager of the
Orphans' Home." Among the Doukhobdrs the " Orphans'
Home " went by the name of " Zion." Virgins were there
trained to sing the " Psalms " which Kapoustin supplied to
make up the " Living Book " : never written but always
committed to memory. Zion was a large wooden building,
near which were plenty of fruit and other trees, and two
fountains supplied by an excellent spring of water.
A reply given by the Doukhobdrs to an Archimandrite
lets us know what opinion they had formed of themselves :
" We are a holy people, the King's anointed, a people
renewed, and without sin."* What the Russian local
authorities thought of them we learn from an official
report of the year 1807, which stated that they were
quick to adopt agricultural improvements from Mennonites
settled near their Colony, and that many of them had
even adopted Mennonite methods of clothing and building.
* I. Harlamof, Rotisskaya Misl, 1881.

134 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The women, in accord with the tenets of their sect, and to
distinguish themselves from the Orthodox, wore no earrings
or rings. They were sober, well-to-do people ; exceedingly
punctual taxpayers. In intercourse with the Russian officials
they were submissive. They were accustomed to help one
another, calling one another " brother " and " sister " ; and
their clannishness even went to such an undesirable length
that they used all possible means to conceal the misdeeds
of their co-religionists. They were, however, exceedingly
suspicious ; had no confidence in, or frankness with, out
siders, and even feared and watched one another. Instances
had occurred among them of one man killing another for a
single rash word uttered in a state of intoxication.
The statements we get from official Russian sources are
in the main borne out by the account Robert Pinkerton,
who travelled on behalf of the Bible Society and visited
the Milky Waters in 1816, gives us of his visit to the
Doukhobdrs. The following extracts are from his book,
Russia. "On approaching the first of their villages, on the
Molochnia (Milky Waters), I met a female, and inquired
of her where the chief person of the place resided. The
answer she gave me was, ' Among us, no one is greater than
another.' The next person I met was a shepherd attending
his flocks, an old man with grey hair. I made my driver
stop, and beckoned to the man to draw near. This he
did ; and uncovering his head, he leaned over his staff and
replied to my inquiries. I asked him if he could read, he
replied : ' Yes, I can read the Word of Life.' From this I
naturally thought that he was able to read the Bible, and
offered him a Tract on the Bible Society. He refused, how
ever, to accept it ; saying, that he could not read our books,
but only the Book of Life, which he had learnt by heart ;

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 135
in other words, that he could repeat the principal doctrinal
and moral Articles of the sect.
" I stopped at the second village ; and without ceremony
entered one of the best-looking houses ... I discovered
that I was in the Chancery, or place where the civil affairs
of the sect are transacted."
" - . . This (viz. to have all things in common) was their
practice when they came to the Molochnia ; but now every
family has its own private property, cattle, fields, etc. Still
they have fields of corn, gardens, and flocks which belong
to the whole community, and the revenues of which are
applied for the common benefit of the society."
" Their neighbours, the Mennonites and other German
Colonists, speak well of their morals ; but all complain of
the reserve and shyness of their character . . . Their
neighbours seem to know little of their religious tenets.
The Mennonites say they are a peaceable and industrious
people, but accuse them of hypocrisy : hence, say they,
when some of their members were convicted of drunkenness,
they denied the fact, and maintained that their members
were all holy. Very few among them appear capable of
reading ; yet their members seem to have had the doctrines
of the sect instilled into them by oral instruction. These
lessons are committed to memory. ... I did not see a
book of any kind among them. I recommended to them
the Bible, and offered to supply them with it ; but they
refused to accept any copies saying, ' That what was in the
Bible was in them also ! ' "
" Their whole aspect, and manner of intercourse with
strangers, indicates a degree of shyness and distrust which
is quite extraordinary ; hence also, their evasive answers
to all direct inquiries respecting their sect. . . ."
The Doukhobdr settlement flourished, and their steady

136 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
industry was beyond reproach ; but troubles awaited
them. Their prosperity attracted others to their faith, and
the authorities received application from newly converted
Doukhobdrs to be allowed to join the settlement at
Milky Waters. This looked as though the Kapoiistinite
Doukhobdrs were proselytizing. Besides this, two or
three worthless Doukhobdrs who had been expelled from
the community and had thereupon become Orthodox,
brought accusations against the sect. Men were arrested
and long kept in confinement, but, no sufficient evidence
being obtainable, were eventually released. Some of the
local authorities, however, had become suspicious of the
Doukhobdrs ; and in February 1816, we hear of a priest
of the Russo-Greek Church being sent to visit them.
Father Nalimsky's visit was, however, a failure. The
night he arrived he got drunk, misbehaved himself, and
fought. For this he was ultimately sentenced to four
months' confinement in a monastery. On July 19 of
the same year, Kapoustin was arrested on a charge of
perverting the Orthodox to his own heresy. He was at
this time seventy-three years of age, and had been for
some months in bad health. According to a petition
presented to the Emperor by the Doukhobdrs, Kapoustin,
in spite of the fact that he was very ill, was severely
questioned, and pressure was used to induce him to admit
the charges against him. In reply to his inquiry,
" Whom have I perverted ? " no satisfactory witnesses
were forthcoming ; but he was, nevertheless, sent back to
prison, where, in spite of his age and state of health, he
was left in a neglected condition until one of the Dou
khobdrs obtained permission to attend on him. The
petition goes on to say that, hearing that Langeron, the
Military Governor of Kherson, was in the neighbourhood,

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 137
the Doukhobdrs sent a deputation to ask for redress.
Langeron, they assert, received them roughly, and shouted
at them : " You know neither God nor the Emperor ;
were I Emperor I would shoot you all down with cannon
and muskets."
Langeron was informed from Petersburg that " His
Imperial Majesty considers that measures such as you
have taken will not reform the Doukhobdrs, but will
further incense them."
The Civil Governor of Taurida reported favourably
of them, and stated that it appeared on investigation
that one of the Doukhobdrs who had informed against
the sect, was a man who had been repeatedly guilty of
stealing, for which offence the Doukhobdr community had
decided to hand him over as a recruit to the army (under
the laws of the time they could do this), but he had escaped
from custody and run away.
Kapoustin was released on bail; and the Doukho
bdrs declared that he died on 7th November 1817, at
the village of Goreloe, and was buried next day. The
authorities sent some one to verify this statement. The
Doukhobdrs all stuck to their story, but something
arousing suspicion, the body was disinterred, and found
to be that of a man with a red beard and moustaches,
whereas Kapoustin was clean-shaven and had not red
hair. A second inquiry led to the same result; the
evidence of the Doukhobdrs was on one side ; the evidence
of the corpse was on the other.*
* I have followed Livanof s account (vol. iv. pages 334-5), supported
by Novitsky. Abrdmof, in a readable but strongly pro-Doukhobdr article,
in Otelchestvenniya Zapiski, 1883, argues in favour of the supposition that
Kapoustin really died in 1817. Impressed by the general good conduct
of the Doukhobdrs, Abr£mof considers that when they came into conflict

138 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Kapoustin recovered from his illness, and seems to
have lived for some years after this. One of Haxthausen's
Mennonite informants declared that he subsequently dis
covered the cave in which Kapoustin spent the last years
of his life. " I have seen it myself," says Haxthausen.
" A small fissure, probably at one time closed by a door,
leads from the bank by a zigzag passage into a kind of
chamber in the rock, in which stood a bedstead and a
stove ; light was admitted into the cave by a wooden tube
running into the open air and concealed by bushes."
To return, however, to the conflict between Langeron
and the Doukhobdrs. The former stated his opinion that
the Doukhobdrs were not Christian sectarians, but
people who had no religion whatever, "having neither
churches nor priests, nor admitting the Sacraments,"
and he was very indignant with them for reporting his
conduct to the Emperor in their petition, and denied
that he had said he would like to " shoot them down
with cannons and muskets," for which unjust accusation
he demanded full satisfaction. In reply to this, Alex
ander I. reminded him that, " In accordance with the
rules of the Christian religion, one must forgive one's
neighbour every injury."
To understand the kindly consideration the Dou
khobdrs received from the Government in Petersburg (if
not from the provincial authorities) one should note that
Kozodavlef, then Minister of the Interior, belonged to an
exceedingly enlightened and humane set of men ; he was
both a Freemason and a member of the Bible Society, in
which latter Society many Molokans were fellow-members
with the officials it was always the fault of the latter, and that Doukho
bdr statements can be taken as good evidence, while official accounts may
be neglected.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 139
with him. (The Molokans and the Doukhobdrs were at
that time classed together as twin sects, though, as we
have seen, there really exists a very fundamental difference
between them.)
The Doukhobdrs well understood the strength of their
position, and did not hesitate to petition vigorously,
even against an edict issued by the Emperor himself.
The ukase of 9th December 1816, by which the Doukho
bdrs were transferred from the control of the Minister of
Police (as an heretical sect) to that of the Minister of the
Interior (on an equality with foreign Colonists) conferred
an advantage upon them ; but it contained one thing they
did not like, namely, it decreed that instead of being
called Doukhobdrs, they were to be designated " Melitopol
Colonists." Now the Doukhobdrs, as we have seen,
especially since they had achieved a position of semi-
independence, had come to consider themselves a " chosen
people," and they did not wish to be confused or placed
on an equality with " Chaldeans," or to lose the nationality
which they considered they had already formed. More
over, they were, no doubt, strongly moved by the recent
ill-treatment of their leader Kapoustin, and were quite
in a mood to show their teeth. So they presented a
petition to the " Most August Monarch," in which they
remarked that all their communities "having listened to
the order, and not wishing to lose the name of Doukho
bdrs, earned with the blood of their forefathers (as Christ
the Redeemer said : ' I have suffered for you, and have
shown you an example, that you might tread in my foot
steps, and know that I am the Lord thy God, exalted
above the nations ' ) ; by agreement of all eight villages,
have submitted to the Government in writing our affirma
tions signed by all the inhabitants, to the effect that they

140 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
do not wish to change their name of Doukhobdrs, but
unanimously affirm that if our name of Doukhobdrs should
be changed, we are all ready, without considering either
our children or the property we have accumulated, to
shed our blood for the sake of the Doukhobdr name, as
we shed it before our emancipation. Look, most merciful
Lord and Emperor, on our innocent sufferings for the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has granted to us
eternal life, and consent in accord with the words of our
Saviour, ' for his mercy and truth endureth for ever,' to
confirm to us as heretofore the name of Doukhobdrs."
Their wishes were complied with in so far that they
were allowed to continue to call themselves Doukhobdrs.
In official documents issued to them, they were to be
called " Doukhobdrs of the Melitopol Colony."
Before the century was out, a time came when a Leader
of their own requested them to change the name Doukho
bdr for that of the " Universal Community of Christian
Brotherhood." Then they agreed to do so without a
murmur, and without either quoting or inventing a single
text. But that proposal came from a ruler of their own,
and not from what they regarded as a foreign authority.
In 1819 those excellent men William Allen and
Stephen Grellet, the Quakers, visited the Doukhobdrs at
the Milky Waters. As they were close observers of many
sects, and (for all their own strongly Evangelical predilec
tions) had a kindly discernment of the spiritual conditions
of those they met, it is interesting to note the impression
the Doukhobdrs made on them.
William Allen writes : " Fifth Month, 29th.— ... In
the evening, Contineas and our host accompanied us a
distance of about five versts, to Terpania (Terpenie), a
village where there is a settlement of one of the sects of

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 141
the Duhobortsi. We crossed the Moloshnia River (Milky
Waters), and on our arrival were conducted to the house
where they are in the practice of meeting on public
occasions, and where we found several of the fraternity.
They were well dressed according to the custom of the
country, but there was something in their countenances
which I did not quite like. We had some conversation
through Contineas, and informed them that we had heard
in England of the persecution they had endured, and also
of the humane interposition of the Emperor, on their
behalf; that while we had felt sympathy for them in
their sufferings, we wished to know from themselves what
were their religious principles. It soon appeared, however,
that they have no fixed principles; there was a studied
evasion in their answers, and though they readily quoted
texts, it is plain they do not acknowledge the authority of
Scripture, and have some very erroneous notions. I was
anxious to ascertain their belief respecting our Saviour,
but could learn nothing satisfactory. Stephen (Grellet)
endeavoured, through Contineas, to convince them of their
errors on some points, but they appear in a very dark
state ; they have driven out from among them all those
persons called Duhobortsi, who receive Scriptural truth,
and who are of the class with whom we were so much
pleased at Ekaterinoslaf. My spirit was greatly affected,
and I came away from them much depressed."
"The following morning (First-day) was also spent
with the Duhobortsi ; a considerable number attended
what they called their worship, but some of their ceremonies
were painful to witness. They manifested great ignorance
on the subject of religion, and the interview did not prove
more satisfactory than that on the preceding day."
Stephen Grellet writes : "29th of Fifth Month— This

142 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
afternoon we went to the principal village of the Duho
bortsi ; they inhabit several others near. We went to the
abode of the chief man among them. He is ninety years
old, nearly blind, but very active in body and mind. He
appears to be a robust, strong man. Fourteen others of
their elders or chief men were with him. We had a long
conference with them. He was the chief speaker. We
found him very evasive in several of his answers to our
inquiries. They, however, stated unequivocally that they
do not believe in the authority of the Scriptures. They
look upon Jesus Christ in no other light than that of a
good man. They therefore have no confidence in Him as
a Saviour from sin. They say that they believe that there
is a spirit in man to teach and lead him in the right way,
and in support of this they were fluent in the quotation of
Scripture texts, which they teach to their children; but
they will not allow any of their people to have a Bible
among them. We inquired about their mode of worship.
They said they met together to sing some of the Psalms
of David. Respecting their manner of solemnizing their
marriages, they declined giving an answer; but a very
favourite reply to some of our questions was, " The letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." We found, however,
that they have no stated times for their meetings for
worship ; but that to-morrow, which is First-day, they
intend to have one, and this, they said we might attend,
and see for ourselves. We left them with heavy hearts,
and returned to Altona."
" First-day, 30th. — I had a sleepless night ; my mind
being under great weight of exercise for the Duhobortsi.
I felt much for these people, thus darkened by their
leaders, and I did not apprehend that I should stand
acquitted in the Divine sight, without seeking for an

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 143
opportunity to expostulate with them, and to proclaim
that salvation which comes by Jesus Christ. . . . We rode
again to their village in the morning. . . . The Duhobortsi
collected, at about ten o'clock, on a spacious spot of ground
out-of-doors. They all stood, forming a large circle ; all
the men on the left hand of the old man, and the women
on his right ; the children of both sexes formed the opposite
side of the circle ; they were all cleanly dressed ; an old
woman was next to the old man ; she began by singing
what they call a psalm; the other women joined in it;
then the man next the old man, taking him by the hand,
stepped in front of him, each bowed down very low to one
another three times, and then twice to the women, who
returned the salute ; that man resuming his place, the one
next to him performed the same ceremony to the old man,
and to the women ; then, by turns, all the others, even the
boys, came and kissed three times the one in the circle
above him, instead of bowing. When the men and boys
had accomplished this, the women did the same to each
other ; then the girls ; the singing continuing the whole
time. It took them nearly an hour to perform this round
of bowing and kissing ; then the old woman, in a fluent
manner, uttered what they called a prayer, and their
worship concluded ; but no seriousness appeared over them
at any time. Oh, how was my soul bowed before the Lord,
earnestly craving that he would touch their hearts by his
power and love ! I felt also much towards the young
people. I embraced the opportunity to preach the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that salvation which is through faith in
Him. . . . We then went into the house with the old men ;
they had a few things to say, but not to any more satis
faction than yesterday. We left them with heavy hearts,
and returned to Altona."

144 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Again, later on, he noted : " Simferopol, 5th of Sixth
Month. — . . . OneoftheMalakans (Molokaens) saying that
he was formerly among the Duhobortsi, I inquired of him
how he had become convinced of his errors He answered
with great energy, " I had the Bible put into my hands ;
I read it, and is it possible to read the Bible and not be
convinced of the great errors under which I was ? "
The names of the villages which at this time made
up the Doukhobdr settlement — Terpenie (Patience),
Bogdanovka (God's Gift), Troitzkoe (of the Trinity),
Novospaskaya (New Salvation), Tambdvka, Rodidnovka,
Efremovka, Kirilovka, and Goreloe — were retained in their
subsequent migrations. The villages were all well situated
on the right bank near the estuary of the Milky Waters.
The settlement was not destined to increase much after
this. Already in April 1817, Count Araktcheyef (who
has left an evil mark on the later years of Alexander's
reign) announced to the Council of Ministers that the
Emperor had decided not to allow further migrations of
Doukhobdrs to the Milky Waters. This decision was,
however, not strictly adhered to; and when, in 1818,
Alexander I. visited the Doukhobdrs, and spent a night
in " Zion," they took the opportunity to petition that
certain of their exiled co-religionists should be allowed to
join them. Their petition received attention. It was
found, on inquiry, that some Doukhobdrs had been knouted
and sent to Siberia for no other offence than their religion.
As a matter of fact, occasional small migrations to the
Milky Walters continued till almost the end of Alexander's
reign. We hear of no refusals of army service on the part
of Kapoiistin's Doukhobdrs at this time; but from
Government enactments we learn that in 1834 it was

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 145
legal for the Doukhobdrs of the Milky Waters to hire
Mohammedans of the Province of Taurida to take their
places as recruits. In 1839 they were still allowed to hire
substitutes from among their own sect as well as from
among the Molokans.
We are now approaching the darkest days of Dou
khobdr history. In Kolesnikof they had had a teacher of
unusually high character. In Pobirdhin and Kapoustin
they had leaders of ability ; but the evil that follows a
one-man power, namely, the impossibility of securing a
succession of good or capable men, had now overtaken
them; and the spiritual impoverishment that must have
resulted from the gross superstition introduced to gratify
the vanity or consolidate the authority of their Leaders, no
doubt increased the danger of the situation. About this,
as about many parts of Doukhobdr history, controversy
exists. Some writers find it impossible to believe that
people who, in general, were so industrious and well-
behaved could, at times, behave so badly. The case for
the other side is that if one rejects the evidence pointing
to the ^Doukhobdr belief in the divinity of their Leaders
and to the evil this occasioned, the most remarkable
occurrences in Doukhobdr history become absolutely unin
telligible, whereas, when once this key to the situation is
grasped, all that happened at the Milky Waters, in the
Caucasus, and finally in Canada, becomes quite intelligible.
This is Haxthausen's account of what now occurred :
"After the death of Kapoustin, the office of Christ
passed to his son. He (Kapoustin) is said to have assured
his people that the soul of Christ had the power of uniting
itself with any human body it pleased, and that it would
establish itself in the body of his son,"
The son and heir of Savely Kapoustin was Vasily

146 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Kalmikdf (1792-1832), and his son and heir was Ilaridn
Kalmikdf (1816-41). Neither of them inherited Kapoustin's
genius. They fell into evil practices and became drunkards.
The thirty Elders and the twelve Apostles, ruling in
Vasily Kalmikdf's name, now assumed power. Haxthausen
says : " The Council of Elders constituted itself a terrible
inquisitional tribunal. The principle, ' Whoso denies his
God shall perish by the sword,' was interpreted according
to their caprice ; the House of Justice was called ' Paradise
and Torture ' ; the place of execution was at the mouth of
the Milky Waters. A mere suspicion of treachery was
punished with torture and death. Within a few years
some four hundred * people disappeared, leaving scarcely a
trace behind. An investigation by the authorities, too late
to prevent the mischief, revealed a frightful state of things :
bodies were found buried alive, and many mutilated. The
investigation, which was commenced in 1834, terminated
in 1839. The Emperor (Nicholas I.) decided that the whole
body of the Doukhobdrs at the Milky Waters should be
transported to the Caucasus, there to be parcelled out or
placed under strict surveillance ; those only who were will
ing to join the Orthodox Church being permitted to remain
at Milky Waters."
The order was communicated to the people by a pro
clamation from the Governor-General, Count Vorontsdf, in
which he said —
* If, out of a population of four thousand people, anything like four
hundred were made away with (as Haxthausen asserts), a veritable reign of
terror must have existed. In the English translation of his work the four
is modified to two hundred(whether at his request I do not know). Novitsky
says, " If one doubts the number of Doukhobdrs reported to have been
murdered, one cannot, at any rate, reject the results of the judicial inquiry.
In spite of all their obstinacy and capacity to conceal seoret orimes
twenty-one murders were disolosed. Corpses were found that had been
buried alive, others decapitated and mutilated."

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 147
" In the name of your religion, and by the command of
your pretended teachers, you put men to death, treating
them cruelly . . . concealing crimes committed by your
brethren, everywhere opposing disobedience and contempt
to the Government. These things, contrary to all the
laws of God and man, many of your brethren knew, and,
instead of giving information of them to the Government,
they endeavoured to conceal them. Many are still in
custody for their conduct, awaiting the just punishment of
their misdeeds."
Those most implicated, together with their families, in
all eight hundred individuals, were moved in 1841 to the
Caucasus ; Ilaridn Kalmikdf with his family being of the
number. In 1842 eight hundred more were transported,
and in 1843 another nine hundred. In all, more than
four thousand people went from the Milky Waters to the
Caucasus. At first only twenty-seven preferred to remain
in their former homes, at the cost of having to be con
verted to the Orthodox Russian Church; but others
returned later on, on finding how difficult life in the
Caucasus was likely to prove.
Haxthausen tells of having visited the empty house in
which Kapoustin had lived. " The house consisted of two
stories, the upper of which had a large gallery on one side,
where, on certain days, when all the people were assembled
below, Kapoustin appeared ; then they all fell down upon
their knees and worshipped him." Below was a large dark
hall, without windows, which is said to have been the place
where the mysteries were celebrated, and where, Haxthausen
says, the rulers " gave themselves up to the most frightful
orgies." Another informant states that at this time the
women singers living in the Orphans' Home crowded out
the old people who had lived there. But the whole

148 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
matter is very obscure, and the evidence scanty and not
first-rate. Anna Filibert, in the Otetchestvermiya Zaplski of June
1870, considers that the Doukhobdrs were innocent,* and
that the fault was all on the side of the Russian authorities.
She says, " Suddenly, in 1839, an unfriendly head of the
local police," who had been accustomed to make a profit
out of the Doukhobdrs, and who failed to get what he
wanted, "accused them of various crimes of which they,
according to the statements of old inhabitants of those
parts, were not at all guilty. Instead of investigating
these accusations, and, in case of real crimes having been
committed, punishing only the guilty, an order followed,
condemning all the Doukhobdrs to migrate to the
Caucasus." This statement has been accepted as sufficient, even by
so intelligent a writer as Stepniak. But let us examine it.
Anna Filibert herself evidently knew little about the matter,
or she would not say the accusation was " suddenly " made
in 1839, ignoring the fact that investigations and trials
went on from 1834 to 1839; nor would she, in another
place, have put the number who migrated from the Milky
Waters at " ten or twelve thousand," the total number of
Doukhobdrs at the Milky Waters having never been much
over four thousand. Again, her remark that the Govern
ment should only have punished those who were proved to
have committed crimes, ignores Count Vorontsdfs com
plaint that the Doukhobdrs concealed the crimes of their
co-sectarians. As the accounts of the trials have never
* The strong tendency people have to take a side, and only to see the
facts that suit that side, comes out strongly in the controversy about the
Doukhobdrs. Why need any one suppose that the Doukhobdrs were either
all white or all black, though the rest of humanity are various shades
of grey ?

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 149
been published, one cannot speak with certainty ; but it is
highly probable that the Government were unable satis
factorily to get to the bottom of the affair. A conspiracy
of silence is just the kind of resistance in which Doukhobdrs
would excel. Lastly, what is the value of the evidence
of the " old inhabitants " adduced ? The article appeared
thirty years after the event. But even had it been written
at the time, what would people not belonging to the sect
be likely to know of crimes committed by the Elders of
so secretive and exclusive a people as the Doukhobdrs?
The defence is most flimsy and unconvincing ! It should
also be noticed that whereas the Doukhobdrs have at other
times stood up to the Russian Government with great
courage and tenacity, they, on this occasion, submitted in
a way suggesting that they had lost confidence in them
selves and in their Leader.*
That there may have been misconduct on the part of
the Russian officials as well as among the Doukhobdrs, is
probable enough : the whole ofthe property ofthe Orphans'
Home is said to have mysteriously disappeared after it
had been taken charge of by the officials.
Ilaridn Kalmikdf died soon after the migration. It is
said that after Kapoustin's death, the Doukhobdrs were
in such a hurry to raise up seed to inherit his divinity,
that they supplied Ilaridn, when he was scarcely sixteen,
with a succession of six young women by whom he might
have offspring. He left two young sons, on one of whom,
at the age of thirty, the Doukhobdrs hoped the soul of
Jesus would descend. Meanwhile, after the death of

* The Doukhobdrs now in Canada sometimes speak of the expulsion
from the Milky Waters as an instance of persecution suffered for their
faith, but occasionally one or another of them admits that the expulsion
was a result of misdoings committed among them.

150 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Ilaridn, an Elder called Lydvoushka directed affairs for a
time. He also, however, got into trouble with the Russian
authorities, and was banished to Siberia. Eventually, Peter
Kalmikdf, one of Ilaridn's sons, became Leader, and appears
to have reigned peacefully, the Community increasing in
prosperity under his rule. He died in 1864, when still
a young man. In reply to the appeal of those around
him, " In whose charge are you leaving us, Father ? " he
indicated his wife, Loukeriya, and replied, " I leave you to
my cuckoo here ; she will take my place, but after her the
Holy Spirit will abide with you no more."
Loukeriya (as often occurs with women rulers among
Eastern nations) proved an exceptionally good sovereign,
and the prosperity of the Community continued to increase.
In her time they spread out and formed settlements in the
provinces of Tiflis, Kars, and Elizavetpdl; having been
invited by the authorities, and induced by special privi
leges, to take part in the colonization of districts added to
the Russian Empire after the war with Turkey in 1877-78.
During that war the Doukhobdrs rendered valuable service
to the transport department of the army.
V. D. Bontch-Brouevitch, who has paid great attention
to the matter, and to whom all who are interested in the
Doukhobdrs are under obligations for the information he
has published, estimates the number of the Doukhobdrs,
after Loukeriya's reign, as follows : —
In two different parts of the Tiflis Government, nearly 12,000
In Kars Government, about  5,000
In Elizavetpdl Government, about ... ... ... 4,000
Total of Doukhobdrs in the Caucasus, about  21,000
A new Orphans' Home had been established, and
possessed a large capital, besides two houses and much

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 151
land and cattle. What the amount of this capital may
have been is not known, for the rulers appear to have
rendered no accounts to the people.
Loukeriya died in 1886, and of what occurred after her
death we have an account in the " Confidential Report *
from the Governor of Tiflis," Prince Shervashidze, dated
7th October 1895.
After stating that a claimant for Doukhobdr Leader
ship might rest his case either on hereditary right or on
special, miraculous proofs of his fitness, he proceeds to
treat of the situation that occurred after the death of
Loukeriya Kalmikdva.
" Under the circumstances described, it seemed that
there was no possibility of an heir or successor to
Kalmikdva's power appearing; but, to the surprise of
the local authorities, a suitable claimant promptly appeared
in the person of a certain Peter Verigin, a native of the
village of Slavyanki in the Government of Elizavetpdl.
" The said Verigin, quite a young Doukhobdr, literate,
unprincipled, and unusually handsome, had, during the
last years of Loukeriya Kalmikdva's life, been constantly
in attendance upon her ; and by his turbulent character,
arrogance, and efforts to raise himself above others, had
provoked against himself the relations and entourage of
Loukeriya, as well as the influential members of the village
of Goreloe, where the Orphans' Home was situated, and
where the Head of the sect dwelt. In other words, Peter
* The correctness of Prince Shervashidze's Eeport has been challenged
by Vladimir Tchertkoff. I had an opportunity not long ago of reading
the Beport to a Doukhobdr, who was on his way to Canada. Knowing
how secretive they are on all such matters, I expected him to reject the
Eeport in toto. To my surprise, he confirmed much of it ; and, though he
demurred at the account of Peter Verigin's birth, he expressly admitted
that Verigin belonged to the reigning dynasty.

152 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Verigin provoked against himself the most influential
members of the sect. But, in the villages at a distance
from Goreloe, amid the ignorant mass of Doukhobdrs —
educated in the absurd traditional belief in the super
natural power of the Kalmikdfs — rumours (floated both
by Verigin himself and by his numerous relations) began
to circulate, even during Loukeriya's life, which gave the
managers of the Orphans' Home cause for uneasiness, and
which were to the effect that this well-built, handsome,
young man was of no common origin, but was the son of
the late Peter Kalmikdf — the fruit of a visit he paid, not
long before his death, to Verigin's family in the village of
Slavydnki ; and that this was the explanation of his
peculiar nearness to Loukeriya, who kept him in attendance,
not as a courtier, but as an heir, preparing him, by fre
quent conversations and directions, for the exalted position
due to his race, to the joy and happiness of all true-
believing Doukhobdrs ; who, as a result of their education
and the traditions of their sect, could not conceive of
the possibility of doing without some one to replace
Loukeriya, and without having a God-Man at the head
of the sect ; and who, therefore, accepted with credulity a
rumour which flattered their imagination. As a result of
this, the conviction of the exalted, divine destiny of Peter
Verigin had become so confirmed in the hearts of the
sectarians towards the end of 1886, that, soon after the
death of Loukeriya Kalmikdva, it was quite possible for
him to advance his pretensions.
" Meeting with strong opposition from the influential
men of the village of Goreloe, who knew him well, and
with the object of breaking down their resistance and
definitely dispelling doubts that might arise as to the
justice of his cause, Verigin set out for his native villao-e

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 153
of Slavyanki. Here, in solemn gathering, before all the
people, his mother, Anastasya, submissively announced that
her son Peter was begotten not by her husband Vasily
Verigin, but by Peter Kalmikdf, who, to the great joy of
all her family, had honoured her by his holy attentions at
the time of his last visit to the village of Slavyanki ; and
that this great secret was well known to Loukeriya
Kalmikdva, who had only awaited Peter's coming of age
in order, during her own lifetime, to hand over to him the
inheritance of his ancestors. After these words, both she
and her husband fell at Peter's feet, and when they had
done so, all the people imitated them. Next followed the
administration of the oath of allegiance to Verigin, and
the signing of attestations of allegiance. In this way the
new Leader's right of succession and connection with the
holy race were established, so that it was unnecessary for
him to prove his divine origin by any miracles, his title
being acknowledged on the strength of his birth.
" After that the inhabitants of the village of Slavyanki,
and about seven-tenths of all the Doukhobdr population
in the three Governments (Tiflis, Kars, and Elizavetpdl,)
swore allegiance to Verigin and signed attestation papers,
and, with invincible faith in the infallibility of their
Leader, blindly submitted their fate into his hands."
Not to rely too much on an official account, I will add
the account given by a Russian sectarian, who had been
banished to the Caucasus and was living among the Dou
khobdrs when Loukeriya died. This is his version —
" Loukeriya Kalmikdva took Verigin as a very young
man, separating him from his wife and completely domi
nating him. He could do nothing without her permission.
A few days before her death she went to Tiflis, taking
Verigin with her. He, without her permission, telegraphed

154 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
to his wife to meet him there. His wife, receiving his
summons, went to Tiflis. When Verigin was going out to
see her, Kalmikdva, stopping him, asked where he was
going. He replied, ' To see my wife, who is also in Tiflis.'
' Oh,' said Kalmikdva, ' tell her to come here.' Verigina
came. ' Who allowed you to come to Tiflis ? ' demanded
Kalmikdva. 'Peter telegraphed me,' replied Verigina.
' And I suppose you gave her permission ? ' said Kalmi
kdva, turning to Verigin in a fury ; and, threatening him,
she fell down in a fit. She was carried quickly to Gore-
lovka, the head village, and died there two days later,
refusing to see Peter or to recognize him as her successor.
This led the leading Gorelovka people to nominate her
brother as manager of the Communal property she had
left at the Orphans' Home, and produced the split that
occurred in the sect."
No one outside the sect (and probably no one in it
either) is able clearly to define the component elements of
divine incarnation, hereditary right, tribal expediency, and
personal pushfulness, that go towards securing Leadership
to one particular man. But apart from any relationship
Peter Verigin may have had to Peter Kalmikdf, he was,
through his mother, a nephew of Loukeriya.
For the continuation of the story I rely partly on
Tebenkofs article in the Rousskaya Starina of 1896.
Though written from the Government side, his statements
in the main fit in well with what one is able to gather
from other sources.
The situation of the Doukhobdrs at this time was that,
surrounded by Mohammedans and by men of races and
creeds quite foreign to their own, they had lost all thought
of proselytizing, and were content to be a " peculiar
people," esteeming themselves superior to all other nations

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 155
and religions. Being prosperous and unmolested, their
fanaticism had died down. They made no objection even
to conscription, and were in very good repute with the
Russian authorities.
Under Loukeriya's reign the head men of the village
of Goreloe, the seat of government and of the Orphans'
Home, had taken considerable part in the management of
affairs, and had become accustomed to intercourse with
the Russian authorities. They were well-to-do, had had
their outlook on life much broadened, and no longer
believed that their salvation depended on maintaining
Doukhobdr independence.
To find themselves suddenly under the irresponsible
authority of a young man whom they looked upon as
rather a scamp — and all because of a superstition in which
they had ceased to believe — was more than they could
stand. So, swallowing the traditions of their sect, they
appealed to the Russian law courts for a decision award
ing the property of the Orphans' Home to their custody.
This "first appeal of the Doukhobdrs, in fifty years, for
Governmental participation in their Communal affairs,
caused great surprise," says Prince Shervashidze in the
Report above referred to. The form in which the Small
Party (as they were called) brought their case before the
courts was that of a claim on behalf of Michael Goubandf,
Loukeriya's brother, to inherit her property. This was
a legal fiction, and was treated as such by Goubandf, for
after winning his case he continued to administer the
estate as the public property of the sect, or rather (since
the sect had now split in two) of his section of the sect.
The usual charge of bribery is, of course, advanced, * but
* More definitely than usual, for in the Preface to the Christchurch
edition of Peter Verfgin's Letters, the amount of the bribe is given as

156 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the court may well have been puzzled to whom to award
the property under.'such very unusual circumstances. The
appeal of the Small Party explained that the others
wished to compel them "to acknowledge the not-indicated-
by-the-law authority of this Verigin, calling him 'Prophet'
and ' Tsar,' " whereas they, the Small Party, desired " to
remain the most faithful subjects of his Imperial Majesty
our most merciful sovereign."
Verigin, as a disturber of the peace, was banished by
" administrative order " without any trial, and sent to live
in exile, first at Shenkoursk and then at Kola, and then
at Shenkoursk again, both places being in the Govern
ment of Archangel. Besides Peter Verigin himself, all his
brothers and several other prominent adherents of his
were banished to Siberia without any trial, simply by
" administrative order." His banishment was said to be
for five years, commencing in 1887, and he should there
fore have been released in 1892. Instead of being then
released, however, he was detained for a further term ;
and this was an immediate cause of fresh troubles that
occurred in the sect.
Early in 1893 (before his banishment to Siberia),
Verigin not being released, messengers returning from
him to the Caucasus began to arouse his followers to a
great state of excitement by new principles which Verigin
advised them to adopt for their spiritual welfare.
When Verigin was banished from Archangel to Obddrsk
at the mouth of the Obi in Siberia, an attendant Dou
khobdr accompanied him, and he was always kept well
supplied with money, in distributing which to the poor
people he met he was very generous.
Es. 10,000, and a person to whom it is alleged to have been paid is
named.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 157
The Doukhobdrs kept up frequent intercourse with
their exiled Leader in his places of banishment, first in
the far North of Europe, and then of Asia. The pains
they took to reach him, and their indefatigable persis
tency in visiting him regardless of all risks and in spite of
all the police could do to stop them, were almost incredible.
On one occasion a Doukhobdr had proceeded far on his
journey when he was arrested and sent back. The police
endorsed his passport with a note to the effect that he
was to return direct to his village, which they named, but
after conducting him some way, they left him to complete
his homeward journey alone. As soon as he was free he
again turned his steps towards Verigin's place of exile,
using his passport to facilitate his journey, for none of
the police officials he met knew the name of his village
or guessed that he ought to be going south instead of
north. Another messenger, after travelling several thousand
miles and nearly reaching Verigin, was captured by the
police, found to be passportless, imprisoned, and turned
back. He tells how he passed the whole night, which
" seemed very long," standing in his cell, because the bugs
were too numerous for lying down to be endurable. His
return journey from prison to prison, with long intervals
spent in several of them, lasted a whole year before he
reached the Caucasus. But this did not hinder the
Doukhobdrs from persistently despatching other mes
sengers to Verigin, to take him money and to receive his
instructions. On one occasion a Doukhobdr (who by some chance
happened to have a passport enabling him to travel
freely) had nearly reached Obddrsk, when he was noticed
and ordered back by the police. Slipping away from

158 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
them stealthily, he managed to travel the last few hundred
miles to Obddrsk on a sledge drawn by reindeer, such
as is usual in that part of the country, and he obtained a
few hours' interview with Verigin before the police could
follow him up and send him back to the Caucasus. " Let
three or four men come to me in the summer," was one
of Verigin's remarks to this messenger.*
Verigin, unlike the common Doukhobdrs, had received
some book education, and in banishment he came across
other exiles — Stundists, Baptists, and Tolstoyans — with
whom he conversed, and he also read books that widened
his range of ideas. In one of his published letters, dated
January 1896, he professes not to have read Tolstoy's
works. There is, however, good reason to conclude that he
had at any rate read some of them before that time, and
that Tolstoy's ideas had also reached him through people
he had met ; so that we hardly risk making a mistake if
we attribute the injunctions he sent to his followers during
the period 1893-96 very largely to Tolstoy's influence,
either received directly from Tolstoy's own works, or in
directly from exiles Verigin met and certain books he read.
In fact, in another letter, he states expressly that while
in the Government of Archangel (i.e. 1887-94) he was
well acquainted with the publications of the " Posrednik,"
a firm issuing a series of books specially designed to assist
Tolstoy's propaganda, and including some of Tolstoy's
own works. A political exile, moreover, who knew
Verigin in Obddrsk (and who left Obddrsk in 1895),
writes : " Peter Verigin told me that between the religious
ideas held by the Doukhobdrs till quite recently, and the
teaching of Leo Tolstoy, there were few points of common
* My Journey, by M. Andrdsof, published in Eussian with Verigin's
Letters. Christchurch, Hants, 1902.

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 159
agreement. But at the time of his removal from Shen
koursk to Obddrsk he made acquaintance with a friend
of Tolstoy's," who visited the Moscow prison to see him.
" From that time, according to his own words, he began
diligently to acquaint himself with Leo Tolstoy's view of
existence, which he assimilated very quickly, very correctly,
very fully, and which he began to carry out very systemati
cally." The same writer says, " We had occasion more
than once to talk with Peter Verigin about the . . .
Tolstoyan teaching. Our debates were hot, and some
times continued for hours on end, lasting sometimes till
past midnight . . . His favourite authors were Tolstoy,
Nekrasof . . . and, of course, the Gospels, which he
knew almost by heart." *
In the diary of a prisoner who was with Verigin in
prison in Moscow, we find an entry, concerning Verigin,
made on Monday, December 5, 1894 : " He is remark
ably fond of hearing about Tolstoy ; I have told him all
I know." In face of all this, it is curious to find Verigin, early
in 1896, writing of Tolstoy : " What does his philosophy
consist of? I have not read his works," and proceeding
to go one better than Tolstoy by suggesting that we
should not be satisfied with making our own boots, but
should give up the use of all things made of metal. In that
very year (1896) Verigin wrote an epistle to his followers
(which most of them have since learnt by heart, and to
which they attach immense importance), chiefly made up
of passages borrowed verbatim from Tolstoy s Kingdom of
God is Within You; and containing, in particular, one
long passage from that book — a quotation of Tolstoy's
* See the matter published, in Eussian, with Verigin's Letters (Christ
church, 1901), pp. xxxi., 171, 205, 206, 209.

160 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
translation of the Declaration of Sentiments which William
Lloyd Garrison drew up in 1838 for a Peace Convention
held in Boston.*
That epistle, now part of the sacred lore of the
Doukhobdrs, was signed by Peter Verigin, and contains
no acknowledgment of the fact that he had borrowed its
contents from Tolstoy. Our modern code of literary
ethics was, however, not recognized in ancient times, nor
is it recognized among primitive races, and it would be
quite unfair to apply it to Verigin's action. My point in
mentioning the matter is not to reproach Verigin with
having appropriated Tolstoy's teaching, but merely to
point out how Verigin became acquainted with Tolstoy's
ideas of non-resistance, vegetarianism, and repudiation of
Governmentaj^uj^arity, ,..a.vi,d~-pa^sed-Jj^e^^Qa^aJM5>
ioHowers f jn the a J2au.cas.uSj .JghflL. .accepted Jbhem in sub
mission to his a^ the
Tolstoyan theory ..o^,, npn.-rr esistance „and.„iiRw Government,
into ideas already famliar,,tp.,J;Jj,ejn. The Government

they rejected was the Russian Government, which had
loiig appeared "to them foreign jnd dangerous. Verigin's
immature assimilation of Tolstoy's not infallible opinions
has, I fear, not tended much to enlighten or clarify the
mental perceptions of the sect, which he (Verigin) supplies
with beliefs. More than that, however sincere may have
* This is pointed out by V. Bontch-Broueviteh, in his Preface to
Verigin's Letters. There are, probably, more people in Assiniboia and
Saskatchewan to-day who can repeat a long passage from Garrison's
Declaration, in Eussian, than there are in , the United States who can
do so in English. The way it reached them was as shown above. Tolstoy
inserted it in his book ; his book was read by Verigin in Northern Siberia,
who used it in an epistle sent to his followers in the Caucasus, and they,
accepting it as the inspiration of their own Leader, printed it on the tablets
of their own minds, and bore it with them to tho North-West Provinces of
Canada.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 161
been Verigin's theoretical acceptance of Tolstoy's anti-
Governmental principles, it is perfectly plain that when he
reached Canada, and saw the mess his people were in for
lack of a Government they would obey, he took the task
vigorously in hand, and did not hesitate on occasion to
call in the aid of that physical force which is such a
t errible bugbear to Tolstoy.
That, in the days of his exile, Tolstoy's ideas should
have made a great, and probably a sincere, impression on
his mind, is not strange ; for Tolstoy is of the same line
of prophets as Kolesnikof and other early Doukhobdr
teachers. It is a line leading back through the Moravian
Brothers to the Christian Commune of Apostolic times,*
and it aims at applying the injunctions of the Sermon on
the Mount to the immediate establishment of a visible
Kingdom of God on earth by the aid of certain external
injunctions — certain additions to the ten commandments.
Tolstoy's charm and power lies largely in the fact that
he deals with the great, vital, obvious questions of human
conduct, and puts them so that a plain man may under
stand his meaning. He challenges each action with the
definite inquiry : Is this right or wrong ? He over-simplifies
his problems by isolating them (as those who try to act
on his precepts find out in due course) ; but his points are
clear and powerful, his aim is lofty, and his strength and
courage immense. It was inevitable that his theories
should be eagerly discussed by political exiles, and should
* Psychologically the case of Ananias and Sapphira is very interest
ing. What subtle hypnotism was it that caused these well-to-do people,
who were quite willing to sacrifice part of their property in a com
munistic experiment, to be afraid to admit that they were keeping back
part of the price of the land they had sold ? That Commune did not
last long. What gave it so powerful a sway over sume minds while it
lasted ? M

162 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
appsal powerfully to such a man as Verigin. They are of a
kind that attracts many minds when they first think about
the connection between the injunctions of religion and the
customs prevalent in human society. That things are not
right in the world is obvious ; we are still waiting for
the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Why it cannot be established rapidly, by rejecting
Government and property and various institutions tainted
with evil, is not obvious — until one tries. The intellect,
unaided by lessons of practical experience, does not easily
realize that it is useless to tie fruit on to the trees, and
that the external results we seek can only be attained
when the sap has given life to the trees, and they have
budded and blossomedyiaturally.
In September of 1886 we find Verigin,' in the modest
language he generally uses, suggesting to the Doukhobdrs
that they should change their name —
"Furthermore, dear brothers and sisters, I offer for
your consideration that we should in future call ourselves
'The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood.'*
The name 'Doukhobdr' is not understood by out
siders ; and though we shall in future still invoke the
Spirit of the Lord, to strive against the weakness of the
flesh and against sin, yet the name ' Christian Community
of Universal Brotherhood ' will tell more clearly that we
look on all men as our brothers, according to the command
of the Lord Jesus Christ. From this time we will, to
the praise of the Lord, take the name of 'Christian
Community of Universal Brotherhood.' Inform all the
brothers and sisters. ... I have had a letter sent on to
me from Moscow that has come from England from a
* " They belie every noun and adjeotive of their cumbrous title,'' is
the comment made by one who saw much of them in Canada.

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 16S
Society called ' The Brotherhood Church.' * ... I have
written a reply, of which I enclose a copy. ... If you
should wish to adopt the proposed name, inform every
one that at Christmas, after prayers, he should con
sider himself accordingly. ..."
This reads like advice given to men who may reject it
if they choose ; but let us see what Verigin wrote in his
letter to the " Brotherhood Church " : "I am a follower
of the teaching of Jesus Christ, and live in exile nearly
ten years for proclaiming the Spirit of Truth. Till now
our community have been called 'Doukhobdrs' ....
Recently among us a movement has arisen making for the
perfecting of actual life, and we have decided to call our
community ' The Christian Community of Universal
Brotherhood,' of which fact I inform you with gladness
and with love, esteeming you as brothers."
It is very evident that a Leader who could write that
letter (and send a copy of it to the sect that had told
Alexander I. that they would shed their blood rather than
part with the name of Doukhobdr), at the same time that
he " proposed " to them a change (to a name so cumbrous
that in practice its employment has been found impossible),
is a Leader who has no doubt that his advice will be acted
upon. It was in the winter of 1894-5 that Tolstoy himself first
made acquaintance-with the Doukhobdrs,! and it is interest
ing to note how naturally and inevitably he fell into serious
error as to the real character of the sect. The Doukho
bdrs he met were three who had come to Moscow to see
Peter Verigin in prison on his way from Archangel to
* John C. Kenworthy's group in Croydon.
t See Paul Birukdffs "Ma Connaissance avec les Doukhobors," in
Tolstoi et les Doukhobors. Paris, 1902.

164 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Siberia. Tolstoy did not know of Verigin's acquaintance
with his own (Tolstoy's) teaching, or of Verigin's ascend
ance among the Doukhobdrs, or of the fact that Verigin
was now imposing on the ignorant mass of his sect those
externalities which, to Tolstoy's mind, correspond to the
spiritual enthusiasm which has animated him for years.
Knowing nothing of all this, and meeting men who exter
nally appeared to meet the requirements of his teaching,
he could hardly avoid falling into the error of regarding
them as examples of true Christianity in practical life.
They worked with their hands, yet were dignified and
full of confidence in themselves and their group. They
produced more than they consumed ; rejected the Church
and the State ; acknowledged (apparently) no human
authority, yet lived together and co-operated in a closely
knit community. They professed the very principles of
Christian anarchy dear to Tolstoy ; and (apparently) put
these into actual practice without that disintegrating result
so painfully evident in the failure of the Tolstoy Colonies,
and which, through all history, has accompanied attempts
to carry on work collectively without recognizing ourselves
as part of a social organism we cannot suddenly reshape
when and how we will.
No wonder Tolstoy (with his impatient desire for
quick results) wrote that what was occurring among the
Doukhobdrs was " the germinating of that seed sown by
Christ eighteen hundred years ago : the resurrection of
Christ himself," and added that the main condition for
the realization of the Christian life " is the existence and
gathering together of people who even now realize that
towards which we are all striving. And behold, these
people exist ! "
Let it not be for a moment supposed that I forget the

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 165
immense debt we owe (and that I, personally, owe) to Leo
Tolstoy. His service has been so great that one may
safely weigh his mistakes without fear of destroying his
influence, just as one recognizes spots on the sun without
fearing to destroy its warmth. But just because Tolstoy
is so strong that his writings have an hypnotic influence
on many weaker minds, it is a duty we owe to truth and
to the Author of all truth, to challenge the hasty generali
zations of which Tolstoy is sometimes guilty. He assumes
that all use of physical restraint on man is necessarily
malicious, and, therefore, that all Governments using
physical force are immoral, and all participation in
governmental affairs is wrong. But this is far too hasty
and too sweeping ; and his wholesale condemnation of the
activities in which so many of his fellow-mortals are
engaged, is a species of intellectual impetuosity which
entails a penalty of its own.
Indeed, that penalty is writ large in the story of Tol
stoy's relation to the Doukhobdrs. Wedded to his opinion
— a mistaken opinion — Tolstoy was led to mistake the
character of a folk who appeared to accept the opinions
and practise the conduct he advocated. Naturally, also, he
nominated as his chief lieutenant (in an affair to which he
was unable to devote much personal attention) a man who
shared his errors, and thus the Tolstoyan movement was
publicly committed to the misapprehension of certain facts,
which have since become plain to unbiased observers.
The effect has been to drive many quondam Tolstoyans
into another camp ; and to leave the Tolstoyans half-
committed to the defence of an indefensible position.
The same thing has occurred again and again in religious
and reform movements ; and the great lesson of it all is,
the impossibility of ultimately identifying the cause of

166 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Truth with the teaching of any one man or the success
of any one movement, good as these may be up to a
certain point. As Thoreau nobly said : " They who know
no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream
no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the
Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and
humility ; but they who behold where it comes trickling
into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more,
and continue their pilgrimage towards its fountain-head."
So, after the warning given by these occurrences, while not
ceasing to work the rich quarry of Tolstoy's teachings for
the ore that lies there, we must be ever on our guard not
to have our mental equilibrium upset by his strenuous and
forceful eloquence ; especially if, by a new kind of apostolic
succession, his spiritual authority is to be delegated to
others whom his mantle does not fit.
A severe test of a man's individuality, in face of a
forceful and persuasive teacher like Tolstoy with whom it
is pleasant to be able to agree, is whether the pupil clings
to the duty of testing even the most attractive notions
on the touchstone of experience, or whether he shuts his
eyes to the lessons of experience and consents to drift
along in whatever direction the master pushes him.
To resume the thread of my narrative I must go back
a little, to a time early in 1893 when, Verigin not having
been released, the Large Party, which still followed him
implicitly and regarded him as their Leader, were stirred
up by messengers returning from him. The relations
between the Small Party on the one hand, and the inhabi
tants of the seven villages of which Spasskoe was the chief,
on the other, had become very bitter. The Large Party
excluded the Small Party from their religious meetings,
and the members of the one section ceased even to bow to

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 167
the members of the other, though that acknowledgment of
the divinity lodged in each Doukhobdr formed part of
their customary religious duty.
The cattle of the Small Party were not allowed to
graze with the cattle of the Large Party. So bitter was
the quarrel that husbands and wives separated, if they
belonged to different sections; and the one party would
not allow the other even to use the same cemetery.
In the Bougdashef branch of the Tiflis Doukhobdrs,
among whom the conflict was fiercest, some two hundred
families belonged to the Small Party, and about seven
hundred or more families to the Large Party.
The advice brought by the messengers from Verigin to
the latter, was to —
(1) Serve one God.
(2) Therefore, since war offends God, not to perform
military service.
(3) To divide up their property equally, that none
might be rich or poor.
(4) To cease from killing animals for food, and from
the use of intoxicants and tobacco.
(5) To refrain from sexual relations (at least during
this time of their tribulation).
The tradition of obedience was too strong for the
Doukhobdrs not to accept this advice, nor was there
anything in it to shock them very much. They would
no more object to the first of these commandments than
would our own Trinitarians. The second point would
commend itself to many of them. Again and again in
their history, cases of collective refusal of military service
had occurred. In the Turkish War of 1769-8J, at
Perekdp, they had deliberately flung away their arms
during a battle. In 1807-09, Doukhobdrs in the Kief

168 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
garrison regiment had refused to receive ammunition or
perform military service ; and remaining firm against
remonstrance, had been sent as convicts to the Nertchinsk
mines in Siberia. Other similar cases had occurred, and
even when they endured it the Doukhobdrs had usually
regarded military service as a tyrannous imposition. At
the time of which we write, with Verigin a prisoner, they
were less disposed than ever to serve in the Russian army.
The third point, the communalization of their property,
was again something not quite new to the sect. It was a
repetition of what had been practised for several years
under Kapoustin, and most of them held that whatever
was theirs was their Leader's.
As to the fourth point : to cease to kill animals for food
was no great privation. • The bulk of the Russian peasants
eat meat rarely, having some two hundred Church fast-
days in the year, and being prompted by poverty to
fast on most of the other days as well. Moreover,
for a healthy and sturdy folk, who have plenty of cereals,
and plenty of fresh air and manual labour, there is every
reason to believe that the exclusion of meat from their
diet is physically, as well as from a humanitarian point of
view, an almost unqualified advantage.* Giving up stimu-
* Dr. A. Haig writes me : " I am much interested in what you say
about the Doukhobdrs and their change of diet ; but I think men of the
labouring class would very often experience no difficulty in changing
diet even quite suddenly, as they have plenty of exercise and good
healthy appetites. It is the idle rich man who has no employment, no
exercise, nothing to think of but himself, no appetite, and only half a
digestion, that gives me all my trouble. A working man can eat 1 J lbs.
of bread a day easily, and that is almost all the food he needs ; and while
he can do this he is not likely to Btarve.
"It is more and more brought home to my mind that it is quite
impossible to prevent the idle rich from paying a heavy price for his
selfishness : if he alters his diet in time he may become unselfish and
will then no longer suffer either in mind, body, or estate."

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 169
lants and narcotics proved a difficulty to many, but Verigin's
authority and the force of public opinion were sufficiently
strong generally to enforce abstinence.
To refrain from sexual relations was, no doubt,
much more difficult, but (not to mention the example of
monks and nuns) it was, as we have seen, in accord with
the tenets of a sect nearly related historically to the
Doukhobdrs ; and to how considerable an extent the
Doukhobdrs followed their Leader's advice even in this
respect, is made evident by the scarcity of young children
among them when they reached Canada in 1899. Marriage
then became epidemic !
But though many of the Doukhobdrs might intend to
obey Verigin in all things, it was easier for him, sitting
in exile, to imbibe Tolstoyan ideas (at first or second
hand), and feel that they reinforced old traditions of his sect
and also furnished a means of inflicting a slap in the
face to the Russian Government by promoting a general
Doukhobdr refusal of conscription, than it was for several
thousand human beings at his bidding to adopt and
persevere in regulations making so vast a change in their
daily life. It is not wonderful, therefore, that before long
a fresh split in the Large Party took place. It divided
up into a Middle or "Butchers'" Party, who rejected
Verigin's advice, and a " Fasting Party," who accepted it.
This fresh split came to a head early in 1895, when
nearly three hundred families out of the seven hundred
or more families of the Large Party in the Bougdashef
settlement of the Tiflis Doukhobdrs, applied to the
Russian authorities begging not to be confounded with
the " Fasting " Doukhobdrs, and not to be held respon
sible for what these might undertake. This Middle
Party, however, still observed the Doukhobdr tradition

170 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
of not revealing the secrets of the sect ; and in reply to
the inquiries of the local authorities expressed complete
ignorance of what the " Fasting " Doukhobdrs might be
contemplating. Meanwhile, the "Fasting" Doukhobdrs went steadily
to work to bring pressure to bear on the Government.
They demanded the return of their " Fatherland," * by
which they meant the Orphans' Home, with all the cattle,
lands, and money that belonged to it.
" Understand," said they, " that we cannot live
without our ' Fatherland.' No matter what you do, we
will persist, and there will be no peace for any one till we
get it. You had better kill us all. Whether you like it
or not, you will have to shoot at us." They also refused
to pay their taxes ; which, indeed, they had been quite
unaccustomed to pay, as these had always been attended
to by the managers of the Orphans' Home.
Absurd rumours circulated among the more ignorant
of the sect as to the splendour in which Verigin lived
in his home in the far north. The messengers sent had,
it was reported, found him seated on a throne with a
halo round his head, a Russian Ambassador on his right
hand, and a Chinese Ambassador on his left.
A Russian law projected at this time, and which after
being tentatively put in operation was soon abandoned,
added fuel to the fire of Doukhobdr discontent. It was a
law concerning "Village Prudential Reserve Funds," by
which the Government wished to secure (what the
Doukhobdrs had long ago done for themselves, by the
* The Eussians go to battle " For Faith, for Tsar, and for Father
land." The Doukhobdrs, who are remarkably fond of catchwords, had a
Faith of their own, and a Tsar of their own, but they lacked a Father
land. So they attsched this name to tho land and house which formed
their seat of Gpvernment.

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 171
establishment of the Orphans' Home) the creation of a
reserve which could be drawn upon in times of scarcity.
Participation in this scheme was sturdily resisted by the
Doukhobdrs. " We prefer to perish," said they, " rather
than to do anything contrary to our convictions."
When the Government scheme ultimately broke down,
and the money it had begun to collect was returned, the
Doukhobdrs (ignorant of the real reasons for the abandon
ment of the project) considered it a victory gained by
them over the Russian Government.
They also started an anti-Governmental propaganda
among the surrounding Mohammedan tribes. "Do as we
do," said they, " then you also will make yourselves feared.
At first the Governor resisted our demands tooth and nail,
but afterwards he had to climb down. He sees he can do
nothing with us, and why ? Because we all stand together
like one man."
The crisis came that summer. The Fasters withdrew
their deposits from the Bank in Ahalkalaki, and divided
the money up equally among their number. They began
hastily selling their property and cattle ; refused to have any
intercourse with the authorities ; and announced that they
were leaving the country. Their young men refused con
scription, those in the army declined to serve any longer ;
and their reservists began to return their " tickets " to
the authorities, in sign that they, too, rejected service.
The excitement among them at this time was like the
exaltation sometimes witnessed at revivalist meetings.
The Small Party became seriously alarmed, and feared an
armed attack on the village of Goreloe where the Orphans'
Home was situated. The local authorities, face to face
with a situation of great responsibility and difficulty, were
also much disturbed.

172 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
There were signs that some great event was about to
take place. Meetings of the Fasters were held, but the
decisions arrived at were kept profoundly secret, and it
was not known till later on, that Verigin had sent
instructions that on the eve of his nameday (St. Peter's
day, June 29, o.s.) his followers were to burn their
arms as an outward and visible sign of the new principles
they had adopted.
The Governor of Tiflis receiving reports to the effect
that the Fasters intended to attack Goreloe, sent three
companies of infantry and three hundred Cossacks to
keep order. He thought it necessary also to visit the
Doukhobdr district himself. The Fasters when required
to supply horses for his conveyance, declined to do so,
and announced that they did not wish to enter into
any explanations with him. In fact, both before and
after they had suffered at the hands of the Cossacks,
the Fasting Doukhobdrs appear, systematically and with
deliberate intent, to have insulted the Governor and his
subordinates. At the town of Ahalkalaki, the Governor met repre
sentatives of the Small and Middle parties, and as no
representatives of the Fasters would come voluntarily,
twenty-four of them were brought in by the police — pro
testing strongly against being "taken captives." They
neither bowed, nor greeted the Governor, but smiled con
temptuously and behaved provokingly. They said, " We
are orthodox Christians, governed by God himself; we
cannot submit to pagan authorities sunk in falsehood,
deception and dishonour, nor can we submit to your laws,
because we have our own law and our own faith, which
forbids us to accept any kind of Government service. We
can pay no taxes, cannot swear allegiance to an earthly

D0UKH0B6R HISTORY 173
Tsar, and cannot supply recruits, or carry out the decrees
of the local authorities."
Towards the other Doukhobdrs they assumed a boastful
air : " Do not count on the soldiers," said they ; " we are
not afraid of them ; we are going to show what we are
made of, and shall astonish you all."
One of the youngest Fasters (a lad personally known
to the Governor) was detained after the others had been
dismissed, and privately asked whether, in his opinion,
what they were doing was wise, or profitable to themselves,
and whether he was not ashamed of it all ? His reply
was : " Who now cares about what is wise or profitable ?
There is no question of shame in it ; we are following our
fate, and going to death. You see that everything has
become entangled and confused ; we ourselves do not
understand how it has all come about."
An explanation given by Alexey Vorobyef, who had
for a time acted as Verigin's substitute, but had ulti
mately joined the Middle Party, is specially noteworthy.
He said of Verigin : " Some looked on him as the Apostles
looked on Christ, and considered him a Saviour, or the
' Door to the Kingdom of Heaven ' ; others considered
him as a God-Man or earthly Deity ; others only con
sidered him a Prophet ; and there were also sensible men
who simply looked on him as on an ordinary man. What
was most important was his influence among us as a public
Leader." What actually happened on the eve of Peter Verigin's
nameday has already been told in English.* The Fasting
* See Christian Martyrdom in Russia, edited by Vladimir Tchertkoff,
with a preface by John C. Kenworthy and a concluding chapter by Leo
Tolstoy. London, Brotherhood Publishing Company, 1897.
See also Tolstoi et les Doukhobors, faits historiques reams par J. W.

174 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Doukhobdrs collected their arms and burnt them at night.
The Cossacks came on them in the morning before the
fires had quite burnt out, and flogged them most brutally.
No impudence they had shown, and continued to show,
towards the authorities, can be held to justify this
inhuman treatment of men and women who had really
committed no crime. Still less can any sufficient excuse
be found for the behaviour of the Cossacks who were sub
sequently quartered on the villages as on a conquered
country. The Government, which had never done anything to
enlighten the Doukhobdrs, now punished with most
ruthless cruelty their blind fidelity to their absent Leader.
It was decided to break up the homes of the Fasters in
the Tiflis Government, and to place them in conditions
which would compel them to submit to the authorities.
On 8th July, 35 families with 52 waggons, and during
the next fortnight 439 more families (about 4000 people
in all), were removed from their homes and scattered
among the Georgians and other tribes. What became of
them has already been told in the first chapter of this
book. It was at this point that the Tolstoyans came promi
nently upon the scene. Paul Birukdff was despatched to
the Caucasus to investigate the matter. Tolstoy wrote to
the Times enclosing BirukdfTs report, which unintentionally
gave (as we now see) a one-sided account of what had
happened ; and Tchertkoff took the matter up more
strenuously than judiciously. His emotional appeals
attracted attention because Tolstoy vouched for him and
Bienstock, Paris, 1902. These two works, though their account of the
Doukhobdrs is very one-sided, are authoritative records of the Tolstoyan
attitude towards the movement.

DOUKHOBOR HISTORY 175
for his statements. The account he published of Christian
Martyrs perishing " simply because they are too good to
be understood by the mass of their fellow-men," was an
effective way of attracting attention and securing the
objects he had immediately in view ; but it is pitiable
when such fervour of moral appeal is combined with such
recklessness of statement. Eventually, people find out
that they have been deceived, and then they are but too
apt to conclude that the principles in support of which the
misstatements were made, cannot be principles worthy of
esteem. There were, in England and elsewhere, many who had
been strongly moved by what is true, wise, and profoundly
religious in Tolstoy's writings, and who were anxious to
serve him. When, wanting nothing for himself, he
nominated a representative and appealed for help to be
administered through him for people persecuted for having
realized the Christian life, such an appeal naturally pro
duced its effect. People gave money, time, and strength ;
but the indiscretions of Tolstoy's representative, and the
misconduct of the sectarians for whom he had vouched,
were, in the public estimation, ultimately debited to
Tolstoy. The matter was so public, the appeals for help so
emotional, the assertions so absolute, and the conduct of
the Doukhobdrs in Canada fell so far short of the
character that had been given them, that one cannot be
surprised at the disappointment many people felt.
I do not think, however, that any who gave time,
energy, or money to the work, should grudge having done
so. A peasant folk are not less in need of help if besides
the material oppression they have suffered, they are also
in bondage to a gross superstition. Nor do those alone

176 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
need help who have no faults, — were it so, charity would
indeed be apt to rust.
That branch of the Doukhobdrs, which is now settled
in Canada, has, during the nineteenth century, probably
migrated more than any other sect in the world. During
the first two decades of the century they assembled from
many distant parts of the Russian Empire to a spot near
the Sea of Azof. In the fourth decade, their next genera
tion were transported to the Caucasus ; and before the
century ended yet another generation migrated to Canada,
to be there rejoined by members whose nearest way, from
their land of exile in Siberia to their new Canadian home,
now lies across the Pacific Ocean

CHAPTER V
FIRST YEARS IN CANADA
When I had nearly finished writing this book, I found
there was a serious gap separating the first chapters from
the concluding ones. This came about in the following
way. I had observed the Doukhobdr movement from 1898
till 1899, using as an explanation of what was happening,
the Tolstoyan assumption that the Doukhobdrs were
morally far above ordinary humanity, and were persecuted
just because they were so good. When they began to act
unreasonably, and to give much needless trouble to the
Canadians, I was puzzled, and wished to accept the in
genious explanations evolved by the Tolstoyans. I found,
however, that though each of these explanations taken
by itself was plausible, the total effect of trying to accept
a succession of different explanations for a succession of
fresh vagaries indulged in by the Doukhobdrs, was ex
tremely confusing. I watched events, received frequent
news from Canada, and talked with Russian and English
friends returning from helping the Doukhobdrs ; but for
lack of a key to the situation I was, for a long time,
unable to trace a rational sequence in what went on. By
the time the Pilgrimages occurred, of which an account
is given in later chapters of this book, I had learnt — partly
from what was told me by Russian friends who had
177 N

178 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
lived among them, and partly also from Doukhobdr
history, to look to Verigin's authority, and to the theory
of a God-Man always present among them, for a solution
of the mystery. From then to the present time I have
been able to follow what has occurred as a consecutive
drama. Still, however, I felt a difficulty about recalling
the confused incidents of the years 1899-1902 with
sufficient precision to reduce them to any sort of order.
There was, therefore, some danger that this fifth chapter of
my book would remain unwritten. Fortunately, while the
other chapters were still in the printer's hands, my atten
tion was called to a series of articles by " Olhdvsky " (a
pseudonym transparent enough to those who were con
nected with the movement) which appeared in the Russian
periodical Obrazovdnie from April to August, 1903. In
these articles, a Russian who was living among them at the
time, and who was well qualified to observe them, gives a
detailed account of the first years ofthe Doukhobdr settle
ment in Canada, and throws a flood of light, confirmatory
of the view of the situation I had myself formed, on the
events of that period.
At some risk of perhaps repeating a few things said
in the later (but previously written) chapters of this book,
I will here attempt to summarize Olhdvsky's articles (with
out confining myself exclusively to that source), and thus
supply the missing link between the commencement and
the conclusion of this volume.
Two steamers, the Lake Superior and the Lake Huron,
each made two voyages carrying Doukhobdrs to Canada
in 1899. On the first steamer L. Soulerzhitsky had them
in charge. With the second vessel went Count Sergius
Tolstoy, the second son of Leo Tolstoy. Soulerzhitsky,

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 179
returning from Canada, again took charge of the third
party, consisting of the Doukhobdrs temporarily settled in
Cyprus. They were accompanied by Captain St. John,
the nurse A. O. Rabetz, Anna de Carousa, and William
Bellows (son of John Bellows, who had taken so active an
interest in the movement, and brother of Hannah Bellows,
who subsequently went out to teach English among them).
The last steamer, the most crowded of all, carried no less
than 2,318 Doukhobdrs, with several Russian helpers, in
cluding " V. Olhdvsky ; " a lady doctor, V. M. Velitchkina ;
a nurse and midwife, E. D. Hiryakdva (who had already
been out with the second party) ; and A. N. Kdnshin, the
son of a wealthy Moscow merchant. Other helpers who
went out with one or other party and rendered valuable
assistance, were Sasha Satz and Marie Rabetz.
Two of the four shiploads of Doukhobdrs had to go
into quarantine on account of infectious illnesses. On the
last voyage, soon after the vessel started, thirteen cases of
smallpox were discovered. The Doukhobdrs tried to con
ceal these from their medical helpers ; but eventually, by
order of A. Verigina (the aged mother of Peter Verigin,
and a sort of queen among them), the patients were
" delivered up," and allowed to be isolated. The disease
spread no further ; but the whole party had, nevertheless,
to stay in quarantine for a month, at Grosse Island in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The land reserved in the northern and southern
colonies was not sufficient for all the Doukhobdrs, so after
nearly 6,000 people had settled in those parts, an overflow
colony, comprising the larger part ofthe Doukhobdrs who
came on the fourth steamer, settled on land in the Prince
Albert district, near the North Saskatchewan river.
For the Doukhobdrs the first year of life in Canada

180 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
was very trying. About 5,000 of them had arrived almost
penniless. Ignorant of the country, of its ways, and of the
language, the task before them during the summer and
autumn was to earn by wage-labour sufficient to carry
them through till the next year, when they might hope to
have harvests of their own. Before the severe Canadian
winter came on they had also to erect houses for them
selves and shelter for their cattle, to obtain such house
hold furniture and utensils as they required, to procure
agricultural implements, and to break up the virgin
prairie, and sow and plant grain and vegetables for the
coming year. To add to their difficulties, the last party
of Doukhobdrs did not leave quarantine till July, when it
was too late to hope to get them settled on their land in
time to prepare for the next harvest.
Under these terribly difficult circumstances the best
side of the Doukhobdr nature showed itself. There was,
of course, some confusion and some waste of energy, but
on the whole the endurance, perseverance, and readiness
to co-operate shown by the people were remarkable.
From the early spring, almost all available Doukhobdrs
from the age of fifteen upwards, were scattered over
Canada at work on farms, and at railways, saw-mills and
other places where labourers were wanted. The women,
with the little children, the sick, and the aged, and with
perhaps a couple of fully capable workmen to each village,
moved from the immigration halls early in the spring to
the prairies, into huge barracks that had been erected
during the winter at convenient spots on the Doukhobdr
reserves ; and operating from these centres, they selected
suitable places for their future residence, and set to work
energetically to build their villages. Almost all the
villages were built by the Doukhobdr women. Lacking

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 181
horses, the women also ploughed the land by harnessing
themselves, twelve pairs of women to a plough, with one
ploughman to drive them.
The conditions were often very hard and discouraging.
In the spring some villages were left for weeks without
salt, and here and there for a while even without flour,
owing to the spring floods, the bad roads, and the difficulty
of securing conveyance. But the most trying time came
in August and September, when, worn out by excessive
work, and suffering from insufficient food, many of the
Doukhobdrs began to grow apathetic. Scurvy, ophthalmia,
and anaemia were common among them, and it became
evident that in spite of all exertions they would not be
able to get through the winter without assistance. Fortu
nately the necessary help was forthcoming. The Phila
delphia Friends, in particular, were very generous, raising
a sum of $30,000 in a few weeks. Nor should the help
rendered by the Dominion National Council of Women be
forgotten. The most critical moment of the whole migra
tion was safely tided over. The Canadian Government
supplied seed for the spring sowings, and from that time
onwards there never was a moment when, except from the
obstinacy and fanaticism of the Doukhobdrs themselves,
the success of their settlement in Canada was in any doubt.
During the year 1900 their prosperity increased rapidly,
as was shown by the increase in the number of their cattle,
in the acreage under cultivation, and in the inventory of
their agricultural implements.
By May 1902, a Doukhobdr writing from the South
Colony was able to report that they had sent, of their
superfluity, about $4,000 to the Doukhobdrs in exile in
Siberia, and that they had sent $300 to aid the Pavlovtsi
(Prince D. A. HilkdfTs former peasants), who had also

182 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
been banished to Siberia. They were also by this time
beginning to pay off the loan advanced by P. N. Biriukdva
and her sister, A. N. Sharapova, to pay for chartering the
vessel that brought the Cyprus Doukhobdrs to Canada.
Considering that that loan had been made, not to any
individuals, but collectively to a group of more than 1,000
people, none of whom could probably have been held
legally responsible for it, it is a remarkable instance of
Doukhobdr honesty that it should ever have been repaid,
and it testifies alike to Doukhobdr industry, and to the
fertility of the soil of the north-west of Canada, that a
considerable loan advanced to a destitute group of immi
grants should have been thus repaid within about four
years. The problem the Doukhobdrs had practically to solve
in Canada was a very curious one. The sect had, from
the time it came into existence (except for a few years
at the Milky Waters early in the nineteenth century, under
the rule of Kapoustin), practised individual ownership
of property — limited only by the authority of the Leader,
by the practice of co-operative activity in a variety of
public affairs, by free hospitality to all comers, and by
liberal contribution to those in need. As we have seen,
Verigin, in exile, had accepted the teachings of Tolstoy,
which condemn the private ownership of property and
commend its communal ownership. These opinions Verigin
had passed on to the sect, which accepted them on his
authority, and accepted them all the more readily because
these views harmonize with the earlier doctrines 'of the
sect, as well as with many texts in the Bible, and corre
spond to the indignation naturally evoked by the contrast
everywhere noticeable between the wastefulness of the rich
and the want suffered by the poor. Accepting Verigin's

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 183
advice in the Caucasus, the sect had split up, and amid
the strife, contention, and excitement that had followed
the breaking up of their homes and the preparations for
migration to a promised land, they had never had time or
opportunity to realize exactly what they were aiming at.
Now in Canada, the time had come to live a " Christian"
life, and to show the advantages of communism over indi
vidualism. The various forms their attempt took, and the
continual drift from communism towards individualism,
that occurred as a result of practical experience, until
Verigin arrived and established a communist despotism
based partly on moral coercion, furnish an interesting study.
From the very start a few families (some ten of those
who settled in the Prince Albert district) took up their own
" quarter-sections," and settled down on a basis of private
ownership, feeling, no doubt, that they had had enough
of turmoil, perplexity, and strife, and that it was time to
put their undivided energies into a contest with nature for
a livelihood. The Doukhobdrs without exception have shown great
capacity for undertaking such work as road-making, bridge-
building, wood-felling, marsh-draining, etc., collectively.
They have been accustomed in the past to such co-opera
tion, and can easily adapt themselves to it. What really
puzzled them was to find out what this communism com
mended by their Leader really amounted to. They were
quite ready to say that men must "live as brothers,"
"live in a Christian way," "not have private property,"
etc., but the fact of the matter is that the Tolstoyan
philosophy (which, all unconsciously, they were imbibing
from their Leader) is a negative philosophy, the strength
and meaning of which lie in its condemnation of the
injustice of existing arrangements. As soon as people try

184 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
to adopt it as a rule of life, they at once find themselves
puzzled as to what they ought to do. What is definite
in the doctrine is condemnatory, and what is commended
is commended merely to emphasize the criticism of modern
civilized society.
Without quite realizing that " the Christian life " was
something very indefinite, which Tolstoy himself had
imagined in different ways at different times, the
Doukhobdrs discovered in practice how variously different
men may interpret it, and how easy it is always to " go
one better " in words and in theory, condemning the actual
life any group of men are leading, and (if their consciences
are tender) lacerating them and goading them into break
ing up habits they have begun to form, and into constantly
attempting something fresh, the defects of which are not
yet so visible because no one has yet tried it.
By 1st January 1900, no less than 2,215 of the
Doukhobdrs (or something like one-third) had abandoned
communism, and were settling down to the use of private
property. Let us glance, however, at a few of the various
forms of communism that were attempted.
Most of the Doukhobdrs on reaching Canada fully
intended to live communally. Indeed, in the first instance,
most of them had no choice. When all that could be
afforded by a village, of perhaps 180 inhabitants, was one
pair of horses and one pair of oxen for ploughing, in
dividualism was out of the question. While the struggle
for existence was most difficult, many of these village
groups lived together very harmoniously. Later on,
however, " an unpleasant spirit of discord made itself felt,
so that every impartial observer saw clearly that these folk
would greatly ease and improve their lives by separating."
A cause that tended to keep some groups together,

cgj?;

'*.» x  —

DOUKHOBORS AMUSED.

Plate V.

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 185
which would otherwise have fallen asunder more quickly,
was the fact that most of the contributions received from
the Friends (Quakers) and from other people, found
their way only to the Communes, and not to those Dou
khobdrs who had managed to start separately. Having
noticed this, many Doukhobdrs were reluctant, by leaving
a Commune, to risk missing a share in future donations.
At a meeting of representatives of the South Colony,
in June 1899, Vasfly Potapof of the village of Rodidnovka,
proposed that all the Doukhobdrs should agree to have
one common treasury, common warehouses, stores, etc.
The suggestion was approved of by the meeting, and it
was decided to invite the North Colony to join the organi
zation. The meeting of representatives of the North
Colony decided —
(1) " That all thirteen villages of the North Colony
will live communally and will have a common treasury,
but that this shall be done separately from the South
Colony, chiefly on account of the distance, which makes it
difficult to consult one another and to call meetings for
the decision of public business. But they ask the South
Colony to apply to them for assistance in case of any
need, and they promise that it shall always be rendered if
they have anything they can give.
(2) " The flour at Yorkton (620 sacks) will be used
for themselves, and for all of the South Colony who may
be in need — without repayment. Those in need shall
apply to a Council of Elders which meets on Mondays in
the village of Michailovka.
(3) " All the money earned in future is to go to a
cashier chosen by the society, and to be spent only by
common consent." *
* The minutes of this meeting were taken down by L. Soulerzhitsky.

186 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The attempt thus made by the North Colony to have
a common treasury for their thirteen villages lasted about
two months. The money earned by working at railway
construction was duly paid into the common treasury,
but only about half the number of men went to work who
should have gone, and those who went only earned an
average of 56 cents a day. Moreover, some of them took
clothing, boots, etc., for themselves on credit, without
obtaining the committee's consent. This provoked other
members of the Commune who did their work con
scientiously ; and finally, after much discussion, it was
decided to wind up the larger Commune and to let each
village form its own small Commune if it chose. As soon
as this was decided, the number of men who went from
the North Colony to the railway work rose from 150 to
300, and the earnings per head rose from 56 cents a day
to from 80 to 90 cents, and even reached $1. The increase
is partly accounted for by another cause — namely, a change
that happened then to occur in the nature of the work.
But there was no doubt that the change from a Commune
of thirteen villages to the system of separate village Com
munes, was the cause of a large part of the improvement ;
and the earnings during the last six weeks of the autumn's
work were four times as large as they had been during the
preceding six weeks.
In the South Colony where the proposal originated,
we find that by the spring of 1900 most even of the
village Communes themselves had fallen to pieces (to say
nothing of the larger Communal group Vasily Potapof
wished to start), and nothing remained of his proposal.
All sorts of communal experiments were made, of
which it would be tiresome to attempt an exhaustive
account. Flour was usually bought wholesale for the

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 187
whole village and was divided according to the number of
people in a household ; but in some cases the division was
made according to the number, not of members, but of
workers. In some villages special men were appointed to
special communal duties : for instance, to manage the
horses or the cattle. In other cases these duties had to
be performed in rotation by each household. In these
latter cases the horses and cattle generally suffered, and in
some instances even perished. Why this happened is
explained by the following Doukhobdr fable : —
"There were once seven brothers who owned a mare,
but no one of them was its master. The brothers put
the mare in the stable, and thought, ' It will be an easy
matter for us seven to look after it.' So the mare stood in
the stable, and the brothers attended well to it. A week
passed, and a second week, and one day Ivan had no time to
see to the mare. ' Well,' thought he, ' it does not matter ;
Peter will feed and water it.' But Peter was thinking the
same about Ivan. So day passed after day, and the mare
had been seven days without food or water, and what was
left in the stable was not worth calling a mare — it was
hardly more than its tail. Suddenly the brothers noticed
what was happening. Ah ! the mare is in a bad way. It
can't stand on its legs, poor thing ! . . . The wind blows
it over ! ... So they set to work to feed it and to water
it. All the brothers paid attention to the mare. The
mare got fed and watered seven times a day. It over-ate
itself, and drank too much after its hunger and thirst, and
next day it died ! "
In some villages the houses were built communally by
all the inhabitants, and they then drew lots which family
was to have which house. In other villages each family
built its own house separately, and, of course, those

188 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
families in which there were fewest workers and most
children, old men, or sick members, built houses which
were worse and smaller. According to Olhdvsky's reckon
ing, by January 1900, there were thirty villages, with
3,574 inhabitants (i.e. nearly half the Doukhobdr popula
tion), which should be reckoned as "temporary Com
munes " — that is to say, Communes which, for one reason
or other, did not expect to endure long.
There were at that time about 1,600 Doukhobdrs (say
nearly one-fourth of the whole number) who were living
in " permanent Communes," as contrasted with the " tem
porary Communes."
These " permanent Communes " Olhdvsky divided into
two categories — first, those which were characterized by
communal production ; secondly, those which carried their
communism even into their domestic arrangements.
Among the first, the work of production, as well as the
stock of tools and animals, were communal; but what
was obtained was divided up according to the number of
heads, and things that had been thus divided became
private property.
Among Communes of the second class, all goods,
whether produced by the labour of their own members
or purchased, were stored in communal storehouses, and
were served out to all according to their requirements.
The tilling of the fields, the building of the houses, and
in general all the work, was also done communally. In
such villages an inclination was even shown to introduce
communal meals, etc.
Olhdvsky had occasion to study the village of Blago-
darenie in the South Colony, very closely. It was in
some ways the model communist village. Its members
were exceedingly honest men, strictly observing all

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 189
accepted Doukhobdr customs. They had everything
communal to the last thread. Nothing was divided
according to the number of heads, but everything was
given out only to those who were in present need of it.
Prominent among them were two men of considerable
ability and organizing capacity — Ivan Strelyaef and
Remezof. They worked indefatigably for the others,
receiving nothing more than the poorest of their brethren.
As far as possible this Commune tried to manufacture
all it required for its own consumption, at home. But
in this, which seemed the most thorough-going and the
firmest of all the Communes, the social atmosphere was
exceedingly unpleasant, and more oppressive than in
almost any other village. The inhabitants of Blago-
darenie were extremely intolerant of any Doukhobdr who
swerved in the least from the customs of the sect, or who
did not follow implicitly the advice of Peter Verigin, the
Leader. Olhdvsky was once spending a night at Blagodarenie,
in company with some Doukhobdrs from the North
Colony. One of his travelling companions had relations
by marriage in this village, whom he visited with messages
from his wife. Having given the customary kiss to all
in the house, he began conversation, in the course of
which he admitted that he (like many of the North
Colonists) had begun to eat fish.
"Why did you not tell us sooner? Do you think
we should have kissed you ? " exclaimed the women.
When he took leave, they did not kiss him.
" I'm sure he smells of fish now ! " said one of them,
spitting contemptuously, as he took his departure.
Another instance of what went on amongst the

190 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Doukhobdrs is furnished by the village of Voznesenie in
the North Colony. Here the chief man was Nicholas
Zibarof, an exceedingly well-intentioned man of great
practical ability as an organizer, and an ardent com
munist. Towards the end of 1900, in spite of his
personal influence some of the Vozneseniaus began to
argue in favour of dividing up the stock of flour, instead
of keeping it in the communal storehouse. This had
proved in other villages to be the first step from com
munism to individualism, and Zibarof opposed it with
all his strength. At a village meeting he and some of
his friends announced that if the proposal were carried,
they would at once secede and settle elsewhere. To
lose their most capable and respected man would be an
incalculable loss for any Doukhobdr village, and the
threat sufficed to maintain the status quo. But com
munism maintained by moral coercion is unsatisfactory,
and the hidden struggle continued until eventually
Nicholas Zibarof, feeling that things could not remain
as they were, felt moved to make a further "advance,"
and abandoning "all carnal desires" and rejecting all
compromise between God and Mammon, took a prominent
part in organizing the great Pilgrimage that occurred in
the autumn of 1902, and marched off to "glorify the
name of the One God " and to " make ready the path
of our Lord Jesus."
Though Zibarof himself is a really good man accord
ing to his lights, this incident is characteristic of the
fundamental difference between a truly democratic spirit
and the individualistic spirit, allied to Tolstoyism, which
has been fostered among the Doukhobdrs. The demo
cratic spirit, at its best, loves and pities human beings
and tries to help them as well as it can. If it devises new

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 191
rules or principles, it does so only to enable it to help
men to live better and more harmonious lives. It is there
fore constantly testing its " principles " by actual results,
and is constantly learning by experience.
The individualistic spirit (exemplified at its very best
in Tolstoy, but showing its defects more clearly in some
of his disciples), on the other hand, cares chiefly for taking
its own way, and maintaining the inviolability of rules
it invents and calls " principles." On the altar of these
"principles" it is willing to sacrifice human friendship
and the happiness of any number of human lives. To
test these "principles" by experience, and to find them
wanting, is the sin against the Holy Ghost, which can
be duly punished only as Zibarof threatened to punish
it, by withdrawing from communion with the sinners, and
proceeding to establish the kingdom of God elsewhere.
What one has to remember, however, and what it is not
always easy to remember, is that zealots of the Zibarof
type are sometimes quite sincere, and as ready to sacrifice
themselves as they are to sacrifice other people. What
they lack is a perception that it is often as cruel to
coerce people's consciences as it is to coerce their bodies.
One of the most capable men among the Doukhobdrs
is Paul Planidin, of the village of Terpenie (of the Kars
folk) in the South Colony. Born of a wealthy Doukhobdr
family, he tells how at his wedding (before the new ideas
were adopted) a hundred vedros of vddka (say 270 gallons)
were drunk. "Every one who liked might come and
drink." He has all the instincts of a capable business
organizer, and is a born leader of men. At a meeting
while in quarantine on Grosse Island, he stepped forward
and said, "Whoever likes to come and live with me,

192 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
communally, let him come here ! " One hundred and
fifty-four of his fellows immediately ranged themselves
under his guidance, and were joined later on by others.
His plans then were to give great individual freedom to
the members of his group ; but as soon as he got to
practical work his instincts as an organizer came to the
front, and the " Christian " life of which he had dreamed
gave place to a well-organized, co-operative, agricultural
and industrial group, directed by himself as a capable,
hardworking and disinterested leader. The hospitality
of the Terpenie folk is proverbial. They have built
separate stables for the horses of those who spend a
night at their village. Every one who comes, Doukhobdr
or stranger, is welcome, and will find a meal and a bed
free of all expense. There have been instances in which
parties of a hundred men returning from work have all
been welcomed and entertained at Terpenie.
To show how greatly the life of a Doukhobdr Com
mune depends on the personality of its head-man (rather
than on any abstract theories), the village of Verovka
(Kars folk) in the South Colony, is specially worthy of
attention. Nicholas Fofanof is the man around whom it
centres. He is a modest, retiring man of great delicacy
of feeling, not at all inclined to push himself to the front,
and always trying to do some one a good turn without its
being noticed. Three-fourths of the group that formed
around him consisted of widows, children, and orphans.
All the poorest of the Kars village from which he came
seem to have flocked to him instinctively, as well as
many of the most unfortunate from other settlements.
With him they all found sympathy, encouragement, and
help. The folk who formed the village of Verovka, all in all,

SPINNING. pLATE VI<

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 193
only brought £6 with them to Canada. On reaching the
immigration shelter at East Selkirk, Fofanof himself at
once found employment at a blacksmith's, and all the other
men also went off and found work. The women and
children gathered wild berries, and sold them to settlers
or in the town. Helped by a small grant of flour that
fell to their share, they managed somehow to feed them
selves, and before long had collected enough money to
buy one little horse. Moving on to the land allotted
to them, they set to work to build their houses, and
before the winter came they had bought another horse ;
and so, little by little, they got on with their farming,
until they were as well off as other Doukhobdrs. Of
course, among them everything is as thoroughly communal
as it can be.
There were many other slightly varying types of com
munism to be seen among the Doukhobdrs. Of their
whole-hearted desire to carry out their Leader's instructions,
and to abandon private property, if only they could find a
way of living harmoniously without it, there is no doubt.
But the main fact eriiphasized by Olhdvsky is that,
generally speaking (with occasional exceptions), where the
"new life" was most strictly carried out, there human
relations were most strained, least natural, and least
healthy. " This absence of social freedom in such Com
munes once again confirms the view, that no coercively
imposed social institutions and reforms (even though
imposed not by physical violence, but by the moral
pressure of authority) can be fruitful or enduring, however
excellent may be their intention and their aim."
" The attempt, based on the Christian-religious opinion
of certain individuals, and especially on the wish of the

194 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Leader, has but slight connection with the minds or
economic habits of the mass of the Doukhobdrs."
I have heard Olhdvsky tell (what he repeats in the
articles referred to above) how on the steamer he inquired
of different Doukhobdrs how they would build their
houses and villages in Canada, and how amazed he was to
get almost the same answer in almost the same words
from all of them. It was long before the secret leaked out
that they had learnt by heart a letter of advice Peter
Verigin had sent them from Siberia. This Olhdvsky
only discovered when Verigin's mother chanced to show
him the letter in question. None of the Doukhobdrs who
quoted the letter had ever admitted that they were not
expressing their own opinion. It is this strange duplicity
and secrecy that makes the investigation and discussion
of Doukhobdr politics so difficult ; and it is this also
which makes it possible for Tolstoyans who, like Vladimir
Tchertkoff, have never visited the Doukhobdrs either in
the Caucasus or in Canada, to cling to opinions about
them which are in conflict with the evidence of every
competent Russian who has ever lived among them for
more than a couple of weeks.
Olhdvsky says : " When I questioned the Doukhobdrs
as to the reason which led them some ten years ago to
give up the system of private property and to try to live
and work communally, it was long before I could obtain a
definite and clear reply. They all said —
" ' What does the law say ? "Love thy neighbour as
thyself." We, as Christians, ought to live as Christ
taught, and obey the law of Christ.'
" ' But why would it not be Christian to live in families,
working hard, helping the needy, acting honestly, but
living, not in Commune, but as separate households ? '

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 195
"Many of them replied by again referring to 'the law.'
Others said, 'As we are Christians of the Universal Brother
hood, we must live communally and not separately.1
Olhdvsky received many such replies, which, explaining
nothing, merely showed that the speakers had no clear
ideas about the plan which they had so stubbornly put in
practice during the last years of their life in the Caucasus.
Some few leading men among them had a clearer idea of
the ethical advantages which (according to certain teach
ings which have at times been very influential in Christen
dom, and which they accept as valid) belong to the system
of communal property as compared to the system of
private property ; but Olhdvsky wanted to get at the
motive actuating the mass of the people.
" After long conversations, which added nothing new,
one very ordinary old man, a kindly, sympathetic fellow,
most punctually performing his Doukhobdr rules, poor,
and most loyal to the new ' Christian ' life-conception they
had adopted, began a conversation with me, and finally —
before a number of hearers — said, ' I have been listening to
your questions for some days, Vladimir, and I understand
what you want to know ; and I know and see that our lads
lead you a wild-goose chase, and do not tell you the truth.
We reap communally and build storehouses and so on,
and wish to live communally in Canada, because They * have
ordered us to do so. Peter Vasilyevitch Verigin has written
to us about it, and has sent word by those who went to see
him ; and what They command, we perform. There are
some now who do not wish to do it ; but they are ensnared
* The Doukhobdrs, when speaking Eussian, refer to Peter Verfgin as
"They," as a special mark of respect. We have a similar custom in
English : " We, Edward VII., . . .¦ hereby announce to our loyal
subjects," etc.

196 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
by sin — they have lost their way, poor fellows. But the
rest of us all wish to do it. But we, ourselves, ignorant
folk that we are, how could we have thought it out ? For
such things a wise head is needed ; but we are at work all
day long, and our thoughts do not go that way. As They
have attained to all the wisdom of God and His law, They
have given us a good direction, and we must carry it out
if we wish to save our souls ; only, as you see, our strength
is not up to it. . . .'
"These frank words from the old man produced a
striking effect on his hearers; they seemed to breathe
more happily, as though a burden had fallen from them ;
they began to speak about how one ought to live, and to
say that the old man had spoken truly. But I also noticed
some who were dissatisfied. 'You have given us away,'
was what they seemed to say."
The extreme complexity of the problems presented by
the study of the Doukhobdrs in their transition stage, is
illustrated by the following passage of Olhdvsky's : —
" Already, towards the end of 1899, 1 made acquaint
ance with some Doukhobdrs who, having thought deeply
and having observed the lives of other people, both while
in exile and afterwards in Canada, and having read a little,
had come to the conclusion that all rites are useless, in
cluding even the Doukhobdr rites ; and that it is useless to
go to Sunday meetings, for these also are a ceremony. They
had also become convinced that all men are made alike
and are born equals ; that there are no * chosen people,'
such as they had esteemed their own sect to be, and that
Doukhobdrism is far from being ' freedom,' but represents
shackles rather, and that a far freer life is possible. The
proselytes of this new movement were noted, and were sub
jected to the persecution of public opinion ; and now these

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 197
really advanced thinkers are obliged to leave the Dou
khobdr groups and to settle on separate farms. No doubt
with the growth of true, free enlightenment, such cases
of ' perversion ' will become more frequent."
It was difficult at first for the Doukhobdrs and the
Canadians to understand one another, and the good qualities
as well as the limitations of the Doukhobdrs were often
misunderstood, as the following story shows. The affair
occurred in spring. A party of Doukhobdrs were en
camped on the bank of the Swan River, which was very
full from the melting snow. The ice had not long broken
up, and the only way of crossing was by the ferry. A
stout rope was stretched across the river, and to this
rope a floating wooden platform was attached at such an
angle that the rush of water pressing the platform served
to drive it across the stream. The crossing, the river
being in flood, was not very safe ; only a few days before
this the ferry had upset, and a Doukhobdr girl had been
drowned. Well, a two-horsed conveyance, containing a
man, a woman, and some children, was seen to drive up
to the opposite bank. The man got out and beckoned.
The Doukhobdrs saw that he wanted to cross, and knew
that it was impossible to do so, except on their ferry.
They therefore went over, and though unable to under
stand a word the Englishman said, they took over first
the passengers, then the horses, and finally, crossing for
a third time, the conveyance also. Next they harnessed
the horses to the conveyance. To have done less for
a stranger in need would have been contrary to their
laws of hospitality.
The Englishman drew out his purse and offered them
$2. This they declined, waving their hands. He, not

198 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
understanding their words and gestures, and not guessing
that they had rendered so considerable a service gratu
itously, offered them first $5, then $10, then $20, and when
they would not accept even that, got quite frightened, and
— after speaking to his wife and children, who pressed close
together and lifted up their voices in dismay — offered his
purse with all it contained. A Doukhobdr, seeing they
could not make him understand, took him by the sleeve
of the coat, while another led the horses, and so they
brought him and the conveyance to where an interpreter
could be found, who explained to the Englishman that
the Doukhobdrs had only done what they would have
done for any stranger, and that it would be contrary to
their customs to take payment for such a service.
When the Doukhobdrs went out to do navvy work on
the railways, and it became known that they held them
selves bound by the rule, " Resist not him that is evil," and
understood it to mean that they were never to use physical
force against any one, some ill-conditioned Canadians took
advantage of this to inflict very real hardships upon them :
spitting into their tea or porridge, preventing their sleep
ing, popping bits of meat into their soup (knowing them
to be vegetarians), etc. This was done chiefly to provoke
the Doukhobdrs to resistance. Usually the Doukhobdrs
endured it all with outward calm, only expressing in con
versation the annoyance and anger they could not help
feeling. Many of them were by such treatment embittered
against the Canadians, and I have no doubt that their
disinclination to conform to the wishes of the Government,
and their readiness to believe slanders against any one
who is not a Doukhobdr, was strengthened by such
thoughtless and brutal conduct. It connects itself in

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 199
their mind with the fact that the English Government is
constantly at war, ordering men to be killed in distant
countries for reasons that no plain man can understand.
One undertaking which for a time promised to be
very successful, was a co-operative store for the North
Colony, managed by Nicholas Zibarof, and started by a
gift of $2,000 from one of the Russians who had come
out to Canada with the Doukhobdrs. This store worked
very well for a while, but it was wound up at the
time of the ill-fated Pilgrimage described in the next
chapters. When the Doukhobdrs first reached Canada, their
buying was done for them by the Russian and English
friends who were there to help them; but after some
months most of these friends wished to return home, and
the question arose, How were the Doukhobdrs to manage
this matter for themselves ? It was proposed that a
permanent committee of three Doukhobdr Elders, to
represent the different Colonies, should reside in Yorkton
to attend to the purchasing of supplies. This proposal,
however, met with considerable opposition from sundry
members of the South Colony, who were strong adherents
of Peter Verigin's, and who apparently considered that
there was something dangerous in choosing Elders. Fedya
Novokshenof was conspicuous among these, and in reply
to every argument, he said, " It is not the law. As we
are Christians and have abolished Elders, we don't want
any Elders." It was no use explaining to him the advan
tages and the necessity of making some arrangements for
the economical purchase of supplies ; he and his sup
porters prevented any definite conclusion from being
reached. In reality the committee was formed, carried on

200 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
operations, and its services were utilized by nearly all the
villages ; but it was evident from the first that it was not
likely to endure in the face of so sturdy an opposition.
A fact well worth noticing is that those villages
which were made up of people who had been scattered
about in banishment in the Caucasus, and had conse
quently come in contact with people of various kinds,
were the quickest in Canada to understand and to support
any arrangements for the common benefit which happened
not to be in accord with old customs or with advice
received from the Leader.
With regard to the land question Olhdvsky gives an
account which quite agrees with all that I had learnt
from other sources. He says that when the Doukhobdrs
first reached Canada they were quite ready to accept the
land on the conditions laid down by the Immigration
Department. Captain Arthur St. John was busily
occupied for some time surveying the land they intended
to take up. In the North Colony a list was prepared of
all who were old enough to claim a " quarter-section."
Soulerzhitsky and H. P. Archer prepared a plan of the
land wanted for this Colony. Only a delay in the arrival
of the Government surveyor hindered the whole matter
from being settled. But by the spring of 1900 the
Doukhobdrs had begun to change their minds. Some mis
understandings had occurred between the local authori
ties and the Doukhobdrs,* and the latter were now to
show the suspiciousness and obstinacy of their nature.
The great mischief-maker was Alexander Bodyansky, a
* Joseph Elkinton, in his book The Doukhdb&rs, says, " A most unjust
seizure of a valuable horse by a sohool distriot trustee as a fine for the
refusal to pay a school tax of $8, . . . had thoroughly outraged the whole
community settlod near Yorkton. By what warrant such an act was
perpetrated no one could explain."

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 201
Russian of good education and means, who risked nothing
himself by inducing these poor peasants to refuse to
submit to the law of the land, and who eventually
returned to Europe and left them to get out of the
difficulties in which he had involved them, as best they
could. He carried on an impassioned agitation among
them on the theme that here, in Canada, they should
maintain their independence ; and that as the earth is
God's, there should be no private property in land, and,
consequently, to register any part of it is wrong. He
also contended that it is wrong to register births, deaths,
and marriages, as it is no business of the Canadian
Government to know what Doukhobdrs have died, or
married, or been born : all these matters being " in God's
hands." At another time Body&nsky might have played the
fool without harming anybody. But his agitation
happening to coincide with the suspicious state of mind
the Doukhobdrs were in, he succeeded in fomenting
troubles which lasted for three years, and were only
partially settled in 1903, when Verigin reached Canada
and bade the Doukhobdrs do almost all the things which
Bodyinsky had half persuaded them not to do.
What induced them to tolerate Bodyansky's agitation
at all was their secret wish to have land ceded to them
en bloc and free of all conditions, so that they could found
an independent " Doukhoboria " with their own laws and
their own ruler.
The registration of marriages, or rather the divorce
law of Canada, was objectionable to the Doukhobdrs
because they consider that marriage is a free union of two
people "when there is love on both sides." When love
disappears (even though only on one side) that furnishes

A PECULIAR PEOPLE
in their eyes, a quite sufficient reason for divorce, which
may be followed by a re-marriage.
Speaking of the various appeals and pronouncements
composed by Body^nsky, signed by various Doukhobdrs,
and reproduced by the Press in almost all European
languages, Olhdvsky remarks —
"If we look for the political meaning of all this
protest, we shall reach the conclusion that in general the
protesting Doukhobdrs, under a Christian phraseology
cleverly hid their real, secret wish — to form a completely
independent State, paying 'tribute' to the suzerain
power, but having their own laws, their own customs, and
governed by their own Leader.
" The ' Law of God,' to which they so often appealed
in their proclamations, bade them do what they wished to do."
What they chiefly demanded from the Canadian
Government was — " to allot (them) land for settlement
and for farming ... in one common lot, without divid
ing what part belongs to whom."
" This demand " (says Olhdvsky) " does not at all
indicate that the Doukhobdrs deny the right of possessing
landed property. Nothing of the kind ! Though they
frequently referred to land as being ' God's,' and said
that God is the only owner of it, they themselves,
Doukhobdrs, ' knowing all God's truth,' knew very well
indeed how to divide up this ' property of God's ' among
themselves. "I have often had occasion at Doukhobdr meetings
to note how carefully and punctiliously they investigate
all cases of disagreement about the land, and how strictly
they define the mutual rights of neighbouring villages :
by whom, when, where, and how timber may be felled,
meadows mown, etc."

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 203
In connection with this agitation, three different
tendencies were noticeable among the Doukhobdrs. First,
there were some, scattered in all three districts, but
specially strong in the Prince Albert Colony (Saskatche
wan), and near the Devil's Lake (euphemistically called
also " Good Spirit Lake "), who took up their homesteads
in accordance with Canadian laws and agreed to render
vital statistics. These were chiefly Doukhobdrs who had
lived in the Kars or Elizavetpdl districts of the Caucasus,
and included most of those who were well-to-do and had
property of their own. This last fact was by itself
enough to cause the " Cyprus " Doukhobdrs to hold
them in continual condemnation.
Next came a large section who swayed from side to
side. They took Verigin's interpretation of Tolstoy's
interpretation of the teaching attributed to Christ, as
representing " God's truth ; " but they did not quite shut
their eyes to all the lessons of experience, and still wished
their labour to be productive, their relations with their
neighbours to be harmonious, and the order of their lives
to be definite and settled.
Lastly, came the zealots : " God's truth " (as defined
above) was the one and only consideration for them. If
the " new life " and the " law of God " proved unworkable,
this could only be because they had not carried it far
enough ; so the agitation and unrest among them increased,
and they became more and more unreasonable, until at
last their fanaticism led to the events recorded in the next
chapters. One cannot follow the perturbed movement of these
very sincere and worthy, but very ignorant, folk, without
being conscious of the responsibility that belongs to
those educated men who weave social theories, and by

204 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
literary skill hypnotize others into staking their lives on
the validity of such theories.
We are becoming increasingly conscious of the meanness
of the imperialism that induces statesmen who sit at home
in perfect safety, to stake the lives of thousands of their
fellow mortals on the games of diplomatic bluff they play ;
but what has hardly been sufficiently noticed is the moral
responsibility incurred by men who to accentuate their
own argument, or to find striking examples of their pet
theory, take liberties with the truth (or are careless in
their observation of facts), and thus mislead other men into
positions that expose them to needless strife, and often
wreck their whole lives.
As to the Doukhobdrs, one feels that they were indeed
as sheep without a shepherd during those trying years. The
perplexity of their mental perceptions was, however, often
hidden by the great dexterity and force with which they
expressed the bits of Tolstoyan philosophy which had
filtered through to them and happened to fit in with their
own aims.
Take, for instance, this Doukhobdr account of the
meeting held 28th December, 1901, at Voznesenie (North
Colony), when a representative of the Canadian Govern
ment, accompanied by Harley, immigration agent from
Swan River, discussed the land question with them.
After inquiring how many Doukhobdrs were entitled
to take up "homesteads," the official said —
" All right, but each of you must enter his name for a particular
homestead, and must sign a paper."
"We will not give the names," replied we, "and will sign no
papers. We will reckon up how much land is due to our thirteen
villages, and will pay you the money in full ; and then no one of
you Government people will have anything further to do vvith us.

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 205
As to the roads, we will keep them in repair, as we have already
promised you.''
"That won't do ! " shouted the official.
" Why won't it do?" replied we. "Has not the Lord Christ
said that we are all brethren, and should live as brothers without
dividing up ? That is what we wish to do— to fulfil his will."
" I have heard that before, but the Government does not allow
it. Each man, from sixty to eighteen years of age, must enter for
his homestead and must work it, or else the Government gets no
advantage, and there will be no profit."
" But what does it matter to you," said we, " whether we work
our farms or not ? We will pay you the money, and then you will
have nothing more to do with us."
" No ; land is not granted on such terms," replied he. " We
must have entries in due form. From the land that is cultivated,
we all, from the Prime Minister to the last policeman, have to live."
" We have long been persecuted," said we, ' ' for not wishing to
obey human laws and institutions."
Then the official became so angry that he trembled all over,
bounced on his chair, and began to say —
" Have you come here to alter the laws of Canada ? "
" If you," said we, " cannot alter selfish, human laws, it is many
times harder and more terrible for us to alter the law of God." *
The official thought awhile and again became angry, and so we
went on for fully five hours.
" We see," said we to him, "that you are exposing us to perse
cution and suffering. We see that there is no freedom here in
Canada as you used to assure us ; it is all a pretence."
"This is your last chance !" shouted the official. "Next
Tuesday, December 31, the Ministry will meet and will judge your
case." " Judge it as you like," said we ; " only remember that you
promised us free land. We will pay you $10 for each one hundred
and sixty acres, and then you must leave us alone. If you had not
promised us liberty, we would have stayed in Russia. We did not
come to seek land, but freedom. All nations and Governments are
* A trick the Doukhobdrs and Tolstoyans have borrowed from the
older sects (and use with great effect), is to beg the question as to the
validity of their interpretations, by confidently speaking of them as
" principles," or " Christ's law," or the " law of God."

206 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the same to us. We do not belong to any Government organization.
Wherever we may live we are and always shall be 'The Universal
Brotherhood. "And we also are brothers and Christians," replied the official ;
" but all that is customary and demanded by law you must fulfil.
We do not charge for the land, but for the surveying and the
writing that has to be done. . . . From the land you plough, and
from your produce, the officials must get their salaries. . . ."
" We cannot take the land in accordance with your regulation."
" Then you do not want the land?" cried he, angrily. i
" Of course we want it ! We want the land, but do not wish to
take part in your fetters, because they sicken us and are a sin ! "
And so we broke up and drove away ; we do not know what will
come of it.
Let us compare this report of a meeting in the North
Colony in December 1901, with a very different report
written by Vasily Vereshagin, as instructed by a meeting
of the Prince Albert Doukhobdrs held in autumn 1900.
' Here in Canada we believe a man cannot be left without bread
to eat. In the first place, Canada allows full liberty, and we have
been granted freedom from military service. Secondly, freedom of
religious belief is allowed. Yes ; and in Canada there are many
different nationalities, and all have full liberty. Thirdly, in Canada
things are, one may say, based on God's law ; for instance, the
freehold of land is sold for about seven cents an acre.*
In the fourth place, the inhabitants of Canada live very peace
fully ; they do not rob or murder. Fifthly, in Canada, a plain
workman for ten hours' work may earn as much as $1.50, or $2,
and there is much else that might be said.
So we see that, in 1900, the Prince Albert Doukhobdrs
held that to obtain the freehold of land cheaply was
according to " God's law," while in 1901 the North Colony
Doukhobdrs felt that, if any Canadian officials interfered in
* "Vereshagin evidently alludes to the fee of $10 paid by the
Doukhobdrs for their " quarter-section " of one hundred and sixty acres.

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 207
their affairs after they had paid entry fees for their land,
such action would deprive them of their liberty, and would
be tantamount to persecuting them for fidelity to the law
of Christ, and for allegiance to The Universal Brotherhood.
Another side of their objection to Government is shown
in a letter of N. I. Doutchenko, a Russian who when he
was in banishment in the Caucasus, some years ago, lived
among the Doukhobdrs, and who has now settled near
them in Canada. His letter is dated February 20, 1902.
The Doukhobdrs, have, of course, been forbidden to cut timber.
It was announced to them that after New Year's Day they would
not be allowed to cut trees without taking out permits. They paid
no particular attention to this, but went on cutting. An official
came to Kamenka the other day, and noted the timber that had
been carted during the winter. I do not know if they will have to
pay for it, or whether they will be fined.
The Doukhobdrs detest the methods of this Government. For
instance : a light sledge arrives at the village, and drives up and
down it. When it comes to a pile of timber, a man gets out of the
sledge. He looks like anybody else (he might be either an official
or a farmer) and he begins to calculate and measure up the timber.
Of course the Doukhobdrs come out.
" Good day ! "
" Good day ! " But the man goes on with his calculating.
When he has looked around, and calculated, he gets into the
sledge, says " Good-bye," and drives off.
There are no threatening speeches and no abuse, but yet they
(the Doukhobdrs) feel that what should be done, will be done, and
will be done firmly.
That is what they hate !
Olhdvsky says : —
" During the whole of 1901 and 1902 and 1903, the
Doukhobdrs were on tenterhooks of expectation for the
arrival of Peter Verigin, their Leader.
" Nine-tenths of those who took part in the agitation

208 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
had one thing chiefly in view, namely, somehow to keep
things in suspense till Verigin's arrival (which was at first
expected in the autumn of 1902), and to arrange every
thing then in accord with his wishes. The letters that had
arrived from Verigin did not show definitely whether he
approved of Canada or not, but his injunction ' not to go
in for large buildings,' not ' to immerse yourselves in hus
bandry,' warned the sect that they might perhaps have to
migrate from Canada. Moreover, no one knew whether it
was Peter Verigin's wish to found a completely independent
' Doukhoboria,' or whether (as the Kars Doukhobdrs main
tained) he would externally submit to the Canadian Govern
ment, while continuing to rule autocratically withm
the Commune, regarding himself and his people as
tributaries of Canada. The protesting Doukhobdrs con
sidered that an independent 'Doukhoboria' would be
more pleasing to God, and therefore agitated for it."
At last, in the autumn of 1902, the news of the long-
expected liberation of Peter Verigin from exile in Obddrsk
was received. The Doukhobdrs at once remitted sums of
$1,000 to five different towns through one or other of
which they thought he might pass, in order that They
might not be put to any inconvenience for want of funds.
The population which had been living in a state
of tension for many months, now became yet more
excited. All sorts of rumours flew about, disturbing and
inflaming their minds. The most enthusiastic of them
tramped from village to village and preached that " the
time has come to show ourselves to the world," and that
" it has been said " that " Christians should not work, but
should go into all the earth and proclaim the truth."
Most fortunately Verigin, on his way from Siberia to
Canada, visited Tolstoy. Tolstoy, however strongly he may

FIRST YEARS IN CANADA 209
hold his opinions, and however onesided those opinions
may sometimes be, is humane, and does not wish to see a
people sacrificed on the altar of an abstract theory. When
he met Verigin he appears to have given moderate counsels,
and to have supplied his visitor with arguments with which
to rebut the extreme conclusions at which the ultra-
Tolstoyans and ultra- Veriginites had arrived.
When I talked with Verigin in London on his way to
Canada, he professed to be still quite undecided as to the
line he would take, and as to the extent to which he was
prepared to support the pilgrim movement ; but on his
arrival in Canada, he promptly and firmly used his
authority to check the worst excesses that the zealots of
the sect had indulged in.

CHAPTER VI
THE DOUKHOBOR PILGRIMAGE
From 1895 to 1898, to those who, like myself, heard of it
from Tolstoyan sources only, the Doukhobdr movement —
at least in its main features — seemed intelligible enough.
That the growth of militarism in modern Europe
is a terrible burden to the working classes, is beyond all
reasonable doubt. It is, indeed, "a game that, were
their subjects wise, kings would not play at." Tolstoy
announced that in Christian Russia, at the end of the
nineteenth century, men were being done to death for
objecting to learn to slay their fellows. This was the
main point.
What else was reported of the Doukhobdrs : that they
shared all things in common ; were vegetarians and total
abstainers from intoxicants; had solved the problem of
combining the equal well-being of each with peace and
good order in the community and an entire rejection of
all man-made law; that they acknowledged no government
that was not purely voluntary, needed no laws except the
moral law, and acknowledged no king but God, — admitted
of doubt and called for further inquiry. The plain and
primary point, however, was that the Russian Government
wanted the young Doukhobdrs to serve in the army, and
that they collectively and individually refused, and were
210

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 211
supported in their refusal by their families and a large part
of their sect.
The 7,363 Doukhobdrs who went to Canada received a
hearty welcome there. What looked like a great victory
for peace principles had been achieved, and a fine example
of passive resistance to militarism given to the world.
That was Tolstoy's view. In Two Wars he wrote : —
" The struggle of the Doukhobdrs has opened the eyes of millions.
I know hundreds of military men, old and young, who, owing to the
persecution of the gentle industrious Doukhobors, have begun to doubt
the morality of their own activities. And the Government that is
tyrannizing over millions of people knows this, and feels that it has
been struck to the very heart. . . . And not to the Russian Govern
ment alone are these consequences of importance ; every Government
founded upon violence and upheld by armies is wounded in the
same way."
Alas ! Wheat and tares grow together in all men, in
all sects, and in all human affairs ! The Doukhobdrs, as
we have seen in the last chapter, soon showed themselves
less reasonable, less easy to understand, and less willing to
consider other people, than had been anticipated.
First came the news that they objected to make entry
for their homesteads in accordance with Canadian law and
custom. Then, they objected to register births and deaths,
or to allow official cognizance to be taken of their marriages
and divorces. Next, some of them objected to paying the
light Canadian road tax, almost the only tax they were
called on to pay. In February 1901, an eccentric man
named Bodyansky, who had gone among them, issued in
their name an " Address to All People," explaining their
disapproval of the laws of Canada,* and inquiring —
* Several of those who had assisted the migration exerted themselves
to show the Doukhobdrs that, however good their intentions might be,
they were not acting reasonably, nor showing due consideration for their

212 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
" Whether there is anywhere such a country and such a human
society, where we would be tolerated, and where we could make our
living, without being obliged to break the demands of our conscience
and ofthe Truth."
This was followed by a special appeal to the Sultan of
Turkey in the same strain ; and to these and other appeals
drawn up by Bodyansky, a number of representative Dou
khobdrs signed their names. Presently the Doukhobdrs
refused to accept a settlement of the land difficulty on
terms they had themselves proposed in the "Address."
Finally it became evident that they themselves did not
know what they wanted ; and that they were suspicious
not merely of the present Canadian Government, but of
any kind of government except their own, — the real nature
of which they were unwilling to explain even to those who
were helping them.
A single instance will suffice to show the hollowness
of the agitation Bodyansky promoted.
During the year 1900 the Doukhobdrs (Bodyansky
acting as spokesman) protested against making private
property of " God's earth." They wrote : " There is no
justification for a man whp, knowing the law of God, takes
as his own what was not produced by his labour, but was
created by God for the use of all men : there is no justifica
tion for a man who, knowing the law of God, makes private
property of land." At that very time the Doukhobdrs of
the village in which Bodyansky resided, and in whose name
he wrote, were trying to expel a settler who had resided
Canadian neighbours. On the other hand, a section of the Tolstoyans
seemed never tired of pouring oil on the flames of Doukhobdr unrest.
Tlie New Order of June-July 1901, contained an editorial note headed
Christian Martyrdom in Canada, declaring that — "The doings of tho
Doukhobdrs should be made known as widely as possible. The Doukho
bdrs are the salt of the earth,"

THE DOUKHOBOR PILGRIMAGE 213
for twelve years on land they considered to be within
their territory, but who, they thought, had omitted the
legal formalities necessary to secure the land for himself.
It would not, however, be fair to conclude from this
that the agitation was deliberate humbug either on
Bodyansky's part or on theirs. Both he and they were
driving at objects that seemed to them important, though
neither he nor they showed any due appreciation of the
obligation of truthfulness ; which is, indeed, as rare among
zealots as among other people.
Jpdyansky mmself was a theorizer and dreamer of a
type^TiiH uninnmon in Russia: men whose opinions are
never disturbed by facts, for, if aware of facts, they use
them not to check but merely to illustrate their theories.
Men of this type are not troubled about the perplexity
and annoyance their vagaries cause to other people. They
care not so much for people as for principles ; that is to say,
not for live men and women, but for the last new crotchets
that may have entered their own heads.
Among the Doukhobdrs Bodyansky found his oppor
tunity. As a ventriloquist sometimes uses a big doll with
a movable head, so he used the sect as a dummy which
served to attract attention to the " principles " he put into
its mouth. Writing to a friend when the game was up, Bodyansky
tells how, during his absence in California, the Doukho
bdrs had spoiled a project he had started, which included
the establishment of a central office in Yorkton to tran
sact business for the colony, and the establishment of a
Doukhobdr library and drug-store. He mentions certain
" slanders " directed against himself which induced him to
withdraw ; and tells how the communal capital, the books,
and the medicines were divided up, and the attempt

214 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
abandoned. He adds : " I expect the Doukhobdrs will in
time have all they need — library, drug-store, and much
else ; but it will not be till the initiative comes from men of
their own group, prompted to such undertakings by ex
perience of life. No initiative from outside ean give them
anything. No more impenetrable group of people exist
than the Doukhobdrs. ."
This is a curious admission from the man who had for
months palmed off his semi-religious rhodomontades on the
Canadian Government and on the general public as
genuine expressions of Doukhobdr "principles." Dropping
the mask, he here practically admits how little unanimity
there was between him and the sect for whom he spoke,
and how different his outlook was to theirs.
But why did the Doukhobdrs, for a while, allow
Bodyansky to play spokesman for them ?
I adopt Olhdvsky's explanation already quoted, and
say : simply because they were awaiting instructions from
Peter Verigin, who was in Siberia ; and until they knew
his opinion, they wished neither to submit to the Canadian
Government, nor to explain the true reason for their hesi
tation. They therefore welcomed the pronouncements of
Bodyansky, at whom they themselves laughed, but who
wrote plausibly, puzzled the Immigration Department,
and kept matters in the suspense, which pending Verigin's
release was what they chiefly desired.
In a letter to Birukdff,* one of the Doukhobdrs
who signed the "Address" wrote with characteristic
slyness : —
" As to what Bodyansky wrote, you know that we are
not wise enough to understand each word. And as to
expressions which did not suit us in it — well, Bodyansky
* Obrashenie Eanadskih Douhoborof. Geneve, 1901.

THE DOUKHOBOR PILGRIMAGE 215
is an obstinate old man, and always twists things his own
way." Bodyansky, however, soon left Canada, and the Dou
khobdrs proved that they could be quite as troublesome
without his help as with it.
An apparent resemblance between some statements in
the Doukhobdr appeals and some of Henry George's
views, attracted the sympathetic attention of Single-Taxers.
But looked at more closely, except that both the Dou
khobdrs and Henry George protested against the laws
and customs that now prevail, there was no similarity.
Henry George had thought out a definite system ; he
stated his opinion frankly and clearly ; and he was aiming
at a workable arrangement recognizing the usefulness of a
Government. The Doukhobdrs had thought out no system,
were carefully concealing their real opinions, and wished
every Government system (outside their own Theocracy) to
prove unworkable.
One phase of fanaticism succeeding another, a con
siderable section of Doukhobdrs (numbering about 1,600)
followed a zealot, who preached that it was wrong to
make use of metals obtained from the earth and smelted
by the labour of our enslaved brethren ; that it is wrong
to train horses or cattle to do our work ; and that it
is also wrong to use money which bearing the image and
superscription of Caesar, should be rendered back to Caesar.
It is also wrong to till the ground: for why should we
" spoil the earth " when there are warm countries in
which men live by eating fruits ? Furthermore, have we
not the example of Jesus, who abandoned manual labour
and went about the world preaching and teaching the law
of God? These doctrines rent the sect once more in twain. A

216 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
majority, however (fully three-fourths), refused to abandon
their settled way of life, and some of them roundly declared
that the preacher and his followers were mad. The latter
(among whom, strange to say, were some of the ablest and
sincerest of the sect) threatened the stay-at-homes with
hell-fire, and sneered at them for being " no Doukhobdrs."
Much bitterness of feeling resulted. Families were divided :
son against father, and brother against brother. In a
few villages almost every one joined the Pilgrimage ; in
other cases only half the people, a mere handful, or even
none at all. The Pilgrims were, most of them, sincere ;
but neither then nor since, have they been able to give
any satisfactory explanation of their conduct. Just as Mr.
Chamberlain supposes that if anything is unsatisfactory
in the economic conditions of England, protection must
be the remedy, so the Pilgrims concluded that if existing
conditions in Canada do not secure liberty, equality, and
brotherhood for all men, the cure must be to cease work,
free the animals, and go on pilgrimage.
Their alleged intentions were to meet Christ, to preach
the Gospel (some of them already spoke a little broken
English), and to reach a warm country where there would
be no Government, and where they would eat fruit from
the trees. Accustomed to a life of industry, some of
them had to pray hard to be saved from the temptation
which assailed them, to work.
They handed over their money to the nearest agent of
the Immigration Department (he representing Csesar).
They let their horses and cattle go free. (These were
promptly rounded up and taken in charge by the mounted
police.) Their sheep they drove to a distance and handed
over to the care of God — but wolves came and devoured
them. They cut the metal hooks and eyes from their

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 217
clothes, set everything in order in their houses, and started
on a Pilgrimage which, gathering volume like a snow-ball
as they passed from village to village, soon reached pro
portions that alarmed the authorities.
They took hardly anything with them but their clothes
and some bread and apples. Some went bareheaded and
barefooted, and all rejected leather foot-gear. As long
as they travelled through Doukhobdr villages they were
everywhere hospitably received, and their needs provided
for. The real hardships commenced when, on October 25
1902, they left the last of their villages and started towards
Winnipeg. Some among them were convinced that as they
were obeying God's will, he would send a second summer
instead of a winter, and for a while they really enjoyed
singularly fine weather. The sick folk and cripples were
carried on stretchers. One child died on the way. Babies
were born. At last, at Yorkton, on October 28, before
things became very bad, the police interfered and would
not allow the 1,060 women and children to go any further.
The men also were to have been stopped, but they eluded
the police and pressed onwards with a dogged, long-suffer
ing obstinacy, characteristic both of what is good and
bad in the Russian peasant.
On November 3, when the pilgrims had reached
Foxwarren, the weather changed; a sharp north-east
wind arose, and snow soon began to fall. Sleeping in the
open, as they had to do, was a severe penance. Even
before this their condition had become serious. They
were living chiefly on what was given them in villages
through which they went, or on grain gleaned in the fields
by picking among the stubble for stray ears of corn, or
found among the chaff around the elevators that they
passed. Some pilgrims became quite crazy. One was so

218 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
violent that his arms had to be tied with a sash, and two
of his comrades had to abandon the march and turn back
with him.
At last, after various signs of disintegration had already
become apparent among the pilgrims, the cold increasing,
the authorities took decisive action. On Saturday
November 8, at Minnedosa in Manitoba, where the
road towards Winnipeg touches the Manitoba and North
Western Railway, a special train pulled up, and after
a stubborn struggle — in which many Doukhobdrs locked
themselves arm-in-arm and showed all the passive resist
ance a sturdy body of men, resolved not to use aggressive
violence, could offer — they were bundled into the cars by
the police, or induced by less violent means to enter, and
were sent back to Yorkton, from whence they were eventu
ally despatched to their villages. At the end of the
Pilgrimage they still numbered about 450 men.
For some weeks after this, uncertainty and dissension
between the " mad " and the " bad " Doukhobdrs remained
acute. No progress towards a settlement of their dis
putes with the Government was made, till, in December
1902, Peter Verigin, their banished Leader, having been
released from Siberia arrived in Canada — and everything
at once assumed a fresh aspect.
The Doukhobdrs began to make entry for their land ;
they gave the vital statistics required by Government ;
they paid the road tax for the past year, and arranged
for the future to make the roads themselves in accord
with the Government requirements; they asked to have the
money they had rendered unto Caesar returned to them
(but the Immigration Department preferred to use it in
paying up the registration fees for their land), and Peter
Verigin began to organize material prosperity for his

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 219
people by purchasing, from the Communal funds, excellent
horses and cattle for breeding purposes, as well as the
latest and best kinds of agricultural machinery.
One more attempt at a Pilgrimage was made in May
1903, with this additional feature, that every now and
then — especially when entering any town or settlement —
the Pilgrims divested themselves of all garments, and —
men and women — following the example of Adam and
Eve in Paradise, presented themselves in a state of nudity.
This second Pilgrimage was, however, a small affair.
discountenanced by Verigin and promptly stopped by the
police. Needless to say, such conduct placed those who had
pleaded the cause of the Doukhobdrs, assured people of
their good behaviour, collected money for them, and
arranged for their migration, in an awkward position.
Nor was it only on personal grounds that a temptation
arose to make excuses, and to explain away or conceal
the facts. For the Doukhobdrs were prominently identi
fied with peace principles; they had won a conspicuous
victory for those principles, and to admit aberrations
or misconduct on their part seemed, to some, like abjur
ing a cause for which they had striven through good
report and ill. "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in
the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philis
tines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcized
triumph," was the sentiment in many minds. But no
good cause can ultimately be helped by concealment, and
a desire to suppress the truth leads only to confusion and
perplexity. In the conduct of prominent Tolstoyans * there was
* By " Tolstoyans " I mean those who not only regard Tolstoy as the
greatest of modern teachers, but agree with him ou all-important points,

220 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
much that was regrettable. Some books published by the
"Free Age Press," Christchurch, did real harm. Vladimir
Tchertkoff had assured the Canadian authorities that
the Doukhobdrs would prove excellent settlers ; he had
also collected money in England to aid them, and was
under every obligation to use his influence to promote
concord between the Doukhobdrs and the Canadian
Government, which truly represented the wishes of the
Canadian people in this matter. Yet the following curious
extracts are from a Handbook this gentleman approved of,
published, and sent out as an aid to the Doukhobdrs in
learning the English language, and to supply them with
information and moral guidance. To draw attention to
certain passages I have put them in italics.
Page 42. — " All governments are based on violence. They are
upheld by armies, law-courts, prisons, and police."
Pages 49-52. — "The population of Canada consists of the
original inhabitants — the red Indians, and of emigrants from Europe.
. . . And now 7,500 Doukhobdrs from the Caucasus. There are
also nigroes (sic). The Indians and nigroes are very badly treated
in the lands which belong to the Europeans. The poor Indians
have been hunted towards the north and deprived of all their rights.
They are gradually dying out. And yet they are a very noble race.
They are honest, truthful, and hospitable. They are a nomadic
tribe, and live in tents. There was a time when the Indians were a
great and powerful people. They had great intellectual development.
And the rules of their morality were very elevated. They did no
harm to anybody. And in their own way they served God, whom
they called the Great Spirit. Then the greedy Europeans came and
began to destroy them and take away their land. The Indians
were exasperated and revenged themselves cruelly upon the ' white
including his view of non-resistance, with its consequent condemnation of
Governments, laws, law-courts, and private property.
Greatly as I admire Tolstoy, I do not claim to rank as a Tolstoyan,
but agree with those who would employ and improve existing institu
tions, rather than abandon them as incurably corrupt.

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 221
people ' as they called the Europeans. . . . Civilized nations com
mit a great sin, for they shed blood everywhere, and they oppress
those that are weaker than themselves. Instead of bringing true
civilization, love, and union, they sow hatred and death wherever
they go. The Europeans call themselves Christians, but they are
not true to Christ's teaching."
Page 62. — " It concerns the registration of marriages, births
and deaths. Do you promise always to fulfil this ? We are quite
willing to answer accurately when asked. But we cannot promise
anything. A promise is the same as an oath. Our religion forbids
us to take an oath. Christ said, ' Do not swear.' A man must be
free. A promise ties the conscience and the actions of a man. Even
in little things we want to be free.''
Page 86. — "Do not give any promises. We cannot take any
oath. Our faith is just the same as that qf Jesus Christ."
Pages 92, 93. — "We think there ought not to exist any private
property of land. In our opinion, land, like air and water, should
be for the use of all. He owns the land, who, for the time being,
is working it. . . . On the land question many and learned people
have written and disputed much. About the land question it is
useful to read the writings of two men : the American Henry
George, and our Russian Leo Tolstoy."
Tolstoy is more reasonable in practical affairs than the
Tolstoyans. I had some talks with him in August 1902,
when the Doukhobdrs were beginning to liberate their
cattle. He was far from approving of their action, or ot
the extreme developments that were then threatening, but
his lieutenant in England, at a meeting held in Essex
Hall on 26th November, 1902, as reported in the Daily
News, said —
"The Doukhobdrs felt that the material prosperity that they
had met with was threatening their spiritual development . . . they
thought to find a milder climate where agricultural operations more
suited to their genius would be possible, especially where gardening
could be carried on without the need of employing animals. They
regarded it as wrong for men to own land as individuals. The

222 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Doukhobdrs, feeling that they were not wanted by the Govern
ment . . . thought it more proper and courteous to withdraw
hefore the officials were put to the necessity of evicting them."
(This as an explanation and defence of the Pilgrimage.)
Further, in reply to a question as to the possibility of
living without Government, he said that —
"Under exceptional difficulties, fifteen thousand Doukhobdrs
had so lived in Russia for fifty years, during which time there had
not heen one single crime among them ! "
There appears to be no doubt that many of the Dou
khobdrs, at the time of the Pilgrimage, were seized by a
psychic religious mania similar to, though milder than,
that aroused in Brazil by Antonio Maciel, a psychopath,
who starting from the principle that all luxuries and all
that is not absolutely necessary for an ascetic existence
should be destroyed, aroused a movement which lasted for
years and terminated only with his death. After twice
defeating the troops sent against him, his stronghold at
Canudos was at last captured, after a three months' siege
in 1897, by the Brazilian Commander-in-Chief with a force
of nearly thirteen thousand men accompanied by artillery.
An epidemic of somewhat the same kind caused serious
disturbance at Arcidosso, in Tuscany, in 1879 ; and Dr. P.
Jacoby* has shown that such psychic-religious epidemics
are much more frequent in Russia than elsewhere.
In the case of the Doukhobdrs many causes predis
posed them at this time to some mental disturbance;
and the facts that only a minority were seriously affected ;
that these with few exceptions refrained from violence,
and that the excitement passed off in a few months — all
tend to show that their excellent physique, healthy life,
* In the Vtstnik Evrdpi, October and November 1903.

MEMBERS OF THE LEADER'S GUARD, BEFORE 1893, IN THEIR

CIVILIAN COSTUME.

Plate VII.

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE
temperate diet, and habits of self-control, enable them to
offer a sturdy resistance to hypnotic and psycopathic
influences which among some other sects have proved
extremely dangerous.
The Doukhobdrs, an ignorant folk accustomed to rely
absolutely on a Leader, were deprived of Verigin's
guidance by his absence in Siberia. Wrought to a high
pitch of excitement during their struggle against the
Russian Government, they had clung faithfully to what
they believed in, risking life and property. Then help,
which seemed miraculous, suddenly came to them from
people they did not know and from a land of which they
had not heard. In new surroundings ; assured by indiscreet
admirers that they were the salt of the earth ; visited by
preachers of wild theories ; obliged to part with many an
old custom and to face many new circumstances — who can
wonder if they lost mental and moral balance ?
The particular event, however, which gave the most
direct impulse to the Pilgrimage movement, was one that
nobody would, at first sight, have supposed capable of
producing so great a result.
Peter Verigin while in exile had written many letters.
To his own people he always wrote cautiously; but to
other acquaintances, he wrote with less restraint, and at
times indited not a little sheer nonsense.* I must not
pause to inquire how it was that one who in practical life
has shown himself a capable organizer and leader, should
have written such rubbish, nor how it was that any man
could read it and not see that it was rubbish ; the fact
remains that these letters were collected and published by
the Free Age Press. They were printed in 1901, in the
* For two letters from Tolstoy to Verigin (interesting in this connec
tion) see Tolstoy's Essays and Letters.

224 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Russian language, and were circulated among the Doukho
bdrs. They, poor people, little accustomed to books,
received these epistles of their absent leader with all the
reverence the most fervent Protestant can feel for the
Epistles of St. Paul; and they at once began to plan
methods for putting their Leader's new views into practice.
This is the real key to the absurdities of the Pilgrimage of
1902. Verigin's style is verbose, long-winded, and sometimes
obscure, so I will quote but a few passages in support of
what I have said, and even these I must abridge. Should
more evidence be wanted it would be perfectly easy to give
many pages of it.
" To agree to all the demands of Caesar's ' organization,' means
to take part in their doings ; and their doings we see are not good.
Money we consider ourselves bound to return to them ... as much
as they may demand . . . because these tokens are devised by
them." " I admit the possibility of advising not to work physically, and
yet to be sufficiently fed (obtain first the Kingdom of Heaven, and
all the rest will be added unto you) . . . People should begin to
preach peace and goodwill, which are bound up with abstinence.
Plenty of corn exists, if only avarice were diminished. The earth
freed from the violence of human hands, would begin to abound
with all that is ordained for it. I do not even imagine that mankind
would suffer want were it to submit to such a theory, for, feeding
moderately, the eatables now in existence would suffice mankind for
a hundred years, and within a hundred years the earth would have
time to clothe itself completely and return to its primitive condi
tion. And humanity, together with the spiritual stature lost by
Adam and Eve, would regain an earthly paradise."
" It is important for me to know : iu order to live rightly . . .
should we keep cattle ? . . . For it is very natural that if fruits
exist, man should feed on them (that is my ultimate conviction).5'
" If we cannot get on . . . without knives, then we shall never
free ourselves from the power of contemporary civilization. . . .
If all humanity began to live peaceably and quietly in huts, and

THE DOUKHOBOR PILGRIMAGE 225
still needed an axe, then they would again return to the above-
mentioned : that is to the mines. You may say that even in mines
one may lead a peaceful and tranquil life. I reply, ' that man was
created not for physical existence, but for spiritual ! ' "
' ' And therefore, in my opinion, man need not act, but need
only observe and admire what exists."
" 'Take up thy cross and follow me,' and to follow Christ — we
must live as he lived, and we see that Christ did no physical work,
nor did the Apostles. And if it is supposed that such a life is only
possible for a limited number of people— that again is incorrect. Is
it conceivable that Christ called the Apostles to such a life and then,
seeing the whole or the half of humanity following, would have said
' No, there are too many of you ? ' Perfection, or holiness, cannot
be regarded as only meant for exceptional people : it is the portion
of every man. That the Apostles and Christ wore clothes and ate
bread was natural, for there were plenty of clothes and bread, and
(one must add) even Christ and the Apostles were not able, all at
once, to go naked."
" In order to he true followers of Christ, it is chiefly necessary
to go and preach the Gospel of truth, and one may beg bread for the
body. Remember that the Apostles, passing through the field,
• plucked the ears of corn and ate.' If any wish to labour, let them
do so ; but our duty is to labour only in Christ's service."
" From the fact that our earth borrows life from the sun, I
think that the nearer we individually may be to the sun, the better
it will be in all respects. ... I consider, the proper place of
residence to be . . . where the sun, sending its beneficent beams
on all that lives, at the same time will influence the brain of man
with its vital energy. . . . Man employing food raised by an
abundance of solar heat, as for instance, raspberries, strawberries,
and in general, so to say, tender fruits — his organism will be formed,
as it were, of energy itself, because tender fruits, I suppose, contain
in themselves very much, as it were, of compressed solar ether, that
is to say, warmth-energy. . . . Feeding on food that grows, and, as
far as possible, on fruits, I see to be advantageous already in this
respect, that I shall consume into myself more solar heat, which
is energy. And in consequence of that I hope even to be
wiser." " True Christianity from time immemorial has been persecuted
because it is harmful to any and every governmental structure. Let
the people carry out the saying, ' if any one smites thee on the one
Q

226 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
cheek, turn to him the other,' and what will follow ? Tlie com-
pletest ruin. Ultimately, of course, the complete unification of the
nations would result, but people fear to trust one another."
The last quotation I have room for, relates to Tolstoy.
It occurs in the letter referred to in a previous chapter,
and written by Verigin from Obddrsk, and dated 4th
January 1896.
" Completing my first term of exile in the Government of Arch
angel, I specially wished on my return journey to visit L. Tolstoy.
What does his philosophy consist of? I have not read his works. I
only know by report that he denies the morality of contemporary
' civilization,' and its progress. If his ideal has stopped short at
making boots, and such arrangements of human life (and I say this
seriously), then, of course, it is very, very inconsequent ; for to
make boots one requires needles, and needles, as is well known, are
made in factories, and consequently it will not be possible to close
the mines, where people are tortured to obtain ore."j
The harmful influence of the circulation of such letters
can only be understood when one has realized what the
Doukhobdrs are so cautious of disclosing — the absolute
authority Verigin, like his predecessors in Doukhobdr
Leadership, wields among them. It is literally true, that
by many he is deified ! Take, for instance, the following
document, signed by Matrydna Krasnikdva of the village
of Efremovka, and by thirteen other Doukhobdr women
of various villages. It is dated 28th July 1901.
" Cease to pride yourselves on your rights and authorities and
to exalt yourselves ! Who is higher than the King of Heaven and
than God ? God created the Heaven and adorned it with all the
heavenly splendours : the sun and its rays, and the moon and stars
to praise Him, and He made the earth firm above the waters, and
adorned it with various flowers, and created all that liveth on the
earth, that they should praise Him. And He gave freedom to all
that live and to the animals.
" ' Great is the Lord above all the nations, for his goodness and

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 227
mercy endureth for ever. ' And His goodness is that He has been born
by the Spirit of the Most-Holy Virgin Mother of God the Queen of
Heaven, of the blessed race of Loukeriya Kalmikdva
"This Lord is our Leader, Peter Vasilyevitch Verigin. His
beauty is in his Wisdom ; in flesh he is pure.
" We strive towards him, esteem him God and Tsar, and with
full desire yield ourselves to his power."
The deification of a Leader has been by no means
uncommon in various religions and nations, and we need
not be surprised at meeting with it among the Doukhobdrs,
many of whom, be it remembered, are free from any such
superstition as the one we are referring to, or are
at any rate able to give a very ingenious explanation of
the faith that is in them. They say something of this
kind : We believe that the spirit of God dwells in man,
and that we are all sons of one Father in heaven. But
we see that the spirit is granted in different measure to
different men. The words of our Leader fill our hearts
with joy ; his advice is ever wise and good, and we recog
nize him to be God's brother. But we know it is wiser
not to speak of these things to strangers.
Two of the most prominent leaders in preparing the
Pilgrimage were Ivan Ponamardf and Vasily Abeydkof (the
latter, however, withdrew from the movement at an early
stage of the proceedings). These two men were the
messengers who originally brought from Kola Verigin's
recommendation to abandon meat, tobacco, and strong
drink ; and they exerted great influence among the sect.
A political motive blent strangely with the sectarian
fanaticism of the movement, for, as we afterwards learnt,
Ponamardf went from village to village declaring that if
the Doukhobdrs would only make a grand demonstration
of a united Pilgrimage, the Government would certainly
consent to transport them to a warmer land. This idea

A PECULIAR PEOPLE
of influencing the Canadian Government blent strangely
with the pseudo-religious motives professed and with the
genuine devotion to their Leader, which all combined to
cause a strange confusion. But it was, at the time, kept
a profound secret.
Verigin philosophizing with various correspondents,
and Verigin ruling his own people, are two very different
beings. On reaching Canada he set himself with prompti
tude, firmness and tact, to restore harmony, and to
organize material prosperity on a communistic basis. The
Doukhobdrs, having learnt caution by long experience in
Russia, never tell strangers how they are governed. They
obey Verigin's directions without implicating him by any
admission that their decisions depend on him ; but they
obey no other authority unless he tells them to.
It has been very plausibly suggested that lie was the
Messiah the Pilgrims expected to meet in Winnipeg. He
left Russia a few weeks later than was anticipated, and
this, apparently, upset their calculations.
Verigin, for his part, arrogates no authority to himself.
His language is usually that of humility and equality ; he
gives advice and makes suggestions — but it somehow
happens that a Doukhobdr who does not agree with the
Leader's suggestions, generally has a bad time of it
afterwards. Verigin's task in Canada was difficult, and the line he
took was a diplomatic one. The Pilgrims, he said, de
served admiration and approval ; but they had now done
enough to show their zeal and to demonstrate the spiritual
strength of the Doukhobdrs. It was time for them to
settle down. A practical victory was thus given to the
"bad" Doukhobdrs, while, to keep things balanced,
flattery was given to the " mad " ones.

NON-USERS OF HORSES FETCHING FLOUR FROM YORKTON.

Plate VIII.

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 229
Having been absent in exile for fifteen years, Verigin
needed advice as to the circumstances and present temper
of his people ; and here again he showed tact, by placing
the communal arrangements in the hands of a Council of
Three, which consists of himself, of Zibarof a chief of the
Pilgrims, and of Planidin chief of the anti-Pilgrims.
These two latter balance each other nicely and furnish
Verigin with an excellent means of influencing both sec
tions of his people. After one month, Zibarof (ex-chief
of the Pilgrims) might be seen buying horses and selling
the surplus cattle of the Colony (young bulls, etc.) to
Messrs. Gordon, Ironsides and Fares, the biggest butchers
and cattle exporters in Canada.
That the earnings of the Doukhobdrs go to the com
munal exchequer, and that the Committee of Three have
considerable scope in dealing with these funds, is an incident
of the situation which some people might object to. The
Doukhobdrs however, for the most part, do not grumble ;
and it may fairly be said that few rulers come nearer to
the lives of their people, or earn their keep better, than
Verigin. The accounts rendered to the Community at
the end of his first year's rule in Canada were remarkably
clear, concise, and businesslike.
But it will be asked : Does not the outbreak of the
second Pilgrimage with its " nudity parades " in May 1903,
after Verigin reached Canada, show that the ideas under
lying the first Pilgrimage were rooted deeper than in his
authority ?
Curiously enough, it tends rather to prove the con
trary. Verigin, in visiting the different villages, suited his
remarks to the psychic complexion of the place visited.
In certain villages predominantly Pilgrim, it seemed to
him expedient to emphasize approval of the Pilgrims' zeal

230 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
for righteousness, and even to reproach the non-Pilgrims
for lack of zeal. Such reproaches burnt deep iu certain
minds ; and when Verigin had left their settlements, these
resolved to wipe off their disgrace by starting a Pilgrimage
more thoroughgoing even than the first.
This was contrary to Verigin's real wish. He had
overplayed his part ; and when the psychic influence of the
revivalist movement, with its stirring appeals and strong
emotions, had wrought some of these new Pilgrims to a
high pitch of fanaticism, even Verigin himself was unable
to bring them to heel. But the significant fact should be
noticed that the heads of the second Pilgrimage were men
who had previously been anti-Pilgrims.
While insisting on the strength of Verigin's influence
as the key to what has been most perplexing in the conduct
of the Doukhobdrs, I do not pretend that the problem
is a simple one, or that there is no reaction against his
authority. A few cases of Doukhobdrs who resist Verigin's
authority can be instanced. Some eleven men among
them even set fire to one of his new reaping machines.
They were arrested by the Canadian police at Verigin's
instigation, and condemned to prison on evidence supplied
by his adherents. When, after a time, it was intimated
to Verigin that the prisoners might be released if a petition
were sent in by the Doukhobdrs to that effect, he remained
deaf to the suggestion.
A few other men have shown signs of insubordination ;
but these seem, at present, hardly to amount to much more
than exceptions proving the rule of general submission.
One needs no clearer instance of Verigin's power than
this : in October 1900, Doukhobdr delegates, claiming a
grant of Communal land free from all legal formalities,
wrote to the Immigration Agent at Yorkton —

THE D0UKH0B6R PILGRIMAGE 231
" We recognize the Creator as owner of land. He gave it for
the use of all living things ; for man especially, on account of his
superiority and because he is adapted to put his work on the land and
thus make it more productive. Therefore we recognize that land
should be in the possession of those who will work it."
In 1901, Verigin's letters, saying that the earth should
not be worked, were printed and circulated.
In 1902 the Pilgrimage was undertaken, by Dou
khobdrs who wished not to " spoil the earth."
Finally in 1903, Verigin induced these same Dou
khobdrs to enter for their homesteads in the very form
they had, in 1901, declared they could not comply with,
because " the law of God, which we must obey before any
thing else, cannot be changed at all."
What, then, are we to think of the Doukhobdrs as a
people ?
I have no hesitation in saying that it would be hard
to find a community consisting of an equal number of
men among whom there is less crime and more industry,
honesty and hospitality, or more personal attention by
the hale adults to the needs of the old people and the
children. They are sober, temperate, healthy, and there
is no prostitution (and apparently but little looseness in
sexual matters) among them. Compared with the fancy
pictures drawn by some enthusiasts they are disappointing,
but compared with ordinary human beings they are a
worthy and estimable folk, in spite of their obstinacy,
sectarian exclusiveness, suspiciousness, and their too great
dependence on a very fallible authority.
When all their faults and errors are summed up, this
remains ; that in the irrepressible conflict, of which
thoughtful men are becoming more and more conscious,
between the imperialistic and military spirit of the age

232 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
on the one side, and the spirit of peace on the other,
the Doukhobdrs (by whatever motives actuated) have
struck a conspicuous blow against the modern slavery of
conscription. On the other hand, the thing of which one is most
painfully conscious, as one wades through the perplexities
of this extraordinary movement — is the extreme rarity of
men who will tell the plain truth, regardless of whether it
confirms or contradicts the various "principles" they
have set up. This disregard of the claims of truth is
noticeable alike in the selection of facts published by the
Tolstoyans and in their rejection of all evidence that does
not suit their views, in Bodyansky's manifestoes, and again
in the quibbling of the Doukhobdrs. In all these cases
the consciousness of objective facts seems overpowered by
an excited subjective aspiration after something beheved
to be more important. Some men get drunk on alcohol ;
others, such as the imperialists among ourselves and the
pilgrims among the Doukhobdrs, get drunk on theories
and on superstitions.

CHAPTER VII
MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE
In the last chapter I tried to summarize the Pilgrimage,
and to explain its meaning, but I confined myself to
sketching it in outline, avoiding details. To adjust the
" personal equation " and to let eye-witnesses speak for
themselves, I will now give some quotations the graphic
details of which may help to bring the movement more
vividly home to the reader.
My first quotation is a translation of part of a letter
(dated 15th September 1902), which I received from Gregory
Verigin (a brother of Peter Verigin's) ; it was written
from the village of Poterpevshy (the name means " That
has suffered," and was changed to Otradnoe : " The Joyful,"
when Peter Verigin made it his headquarters). This is
what Gregory Verigin wrote —
" Next, I will give you some news about certain of our
Brethren. You already know that some of them have
liberated all their cattle. After the liberation they took
it into their heads to go preaching to their friends that
they too should liberate, and they started tramping
through the villages and preaching. They declared, more
over, that it is unnecessary to have clothes, such as fur-
coats, boats, or horse-collars ; all these things they burnt ;
and they also began to say that to work and dig the
233

234 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
ground (whether with plough or spade) was sinful ; and
that we ought to nourish ourselves on fruits ; that to have
anything of iron (even a needle) is sinful, — because our
brethren are tormented in mines. . . . And, by such pro
pagandists, some seventeen hundred people of both sexes
were collected, and they came here the other day. We
went out to meet them. Greeting us, they wished us
peace. Then they invited any of us who might wish to,
to ' come with us to the wedding feast.' Another said :
' We are going; to meet the Bridegroom ' ; a third said :
' We go to preach the Gospel ' ; and a fourth said : ' Let
us go to the Promised Land.'
" I asked them to be silent, and to let some one man
explain where all these people were going. The replies
were the same as before, and one could make nothing of
them ; and if I am to write you truly whither these folk
are going — it's more than I know myself !
"Again I asked them to be silent, and I began to
express my own opinion. ' First,' said I, ' if you are going
to preach the Gospel, that is a thing requiring some
capacity, but I know personally that many of you cannot
yet manage to live in a Christian way yourselves; what,
then, are you going to tell to others ? And besides, where
are all these women and children, and old men and old
women going to, and these cripples, and the sick people
that you are carrying on stretchers ? Is propaganda of
this kind reasonable ? Secondly, if one is to look on such
a movement as a migration to a Promised Land where vou
will feed on fruits, such a land, even supposing it to exist,
must be far away, and in such guise you will never get
there. If this country does not please you, or if it is con
trary to your convictions, then look for a country more to
your minds, and migrate thither as you migrated from

\ \>

NICHOLAS ZIBAROF, A LEADING PILGRIM.

Plate IX.

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 235
Russia to Canada. I argued that to work is not sinful,
but that men must work. God says, ' In the sweat of thy
brow shalt thou obtain bread,' and Jesus Christ gives us
full liberty to say, ' he who will not work — let him also
not eat' ; but you say it is sinful to work, while you your
selves have not at all stopped eating. Is that right ? Or
you say that every one should free their cattle, — but you
yourselves have not yet tried whether you can live without
cattle. You should at least try it for a year or two, and
if you have lived and found it answer, then others will see
it and will themselves begin liberating. But now, you
have hardly had time to drive the cattle out of your yards,
and have not tried your strength, and yet you want to
teach other people ! That is not good, it is even sinful ! '
" I talked for more than two hours, and there was
hardly any contradiction. Then we offered them a meal
and quarters for the night, but they refused both the one
and the other ; only they said they wished to bid farewell
to the Grandmother, that is to my Mother.*
"When they said good-bye and moved on, many of
them went barefoot and without hats on their heads, and
they had with them only the clothes they were in; they
had no supplies, and I asked why this was so, and said,
' Have you any Elder among you who, perhaps, tells you
to behave so ? ' They replied that they had no Elders
among them, but that each one acted so on the prompt
ing of his own conscience. ' What do you think of such
behaviour ? ' said I. ' Speaking for my own part, I do not
see, here, anything tending to salvation, or that is reason
able ; but it is a human invention which will cause great
suffering.' "
* Peter Verigin's mother is held in the highest reverence among the
Doukhobdrs.

236 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
My next quotation is from a newspaper account. Many
of the reports circulated in the American and English Press
were wildly inaccurate, and showed a misunderstanding of
the whole affair ; but the reports in the Manitoba Free Press,
written by a special correspondent who accompanied the
Doukhobdrs, bore every sign of reliability.
Writing from Yorkton, North-West Territories, this
correspondent reported, on 31st October 1902, of the
Pilgrims —
" To-night they are encamped near Churchbridge . . .
They are showing signs that hunger, fatigue, and emacia
tion have weakened their stalwart frames. Every man's
face is an index, silent and eloquent, of what he has been,
and is, enduring. The glare of sunken eyes gives evidence
that minds are weakening under the combined influence of
religious dementia, starvation, and exhaustion. A drizzling
rain is falling to add to the self-inflicted miseries of these
martyrs to mistaken ideals of right. Ever and anon will
arise their plaintive psalm, its weird minor cadences rising
and falling with varying strength, now swelling higher on
the breeze like martial music, and again sinking into a
mournful dirge of sorrow. Nearly all are barefooted and
hatless. All their outer clothing, their heavy felted cloaks
and overcoats, have been thrown away. Two months ago
the Lord revealed to them the iniquity of wearing leather
boots ; they were the product of animal life, which it was
wrong to utilize for any purpose. So rubbers were bought
in their place. These have hurt their feet, and now they
have been thrown away. They lie piled in little heaps
from Rokeby to Churchbridge, and scattered along their
line of march are stockings, gray blankets, cloaks, coats,
caps, hats, and all the impediments of a long pilgrimage.
" The trail over which those thousand feet have travelled

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 237
is worn as level as the floor of a dancing pavilion. Their
tired feet are cut and bruised, some of them bleeding.
Whenever the way lies near a ploughed field the weary
concourse walk across it to ease their tired feet, and the
path they have travelled looks as if it had been pressed by
a gigantic roller. A razor has not touched the beard of
one of the pilgrims since they adopted their new belief.
All are unkempt, unshaven, hollow-cheeked and wild-eyed.
In front stalks the new 'John the Baptist,' his jet-black
beard and long hair floating in the autumn wind. Suddenly
he will stop, with eyes glaring before him, then leap for
ward, clutching at the air with extended, groping hands,
crying, ' I see Him ; I see Jesus. He is coming, He is
here.' The dementia can be seen to run through the pro
cession like a wave at these words. The chant rises higher,
stronger and militant, and many of the Spirit- Wrestlers
show similar symptoms of seeing Him who is invisible.
All who have seen it say it is like a dreadful dream, that
it is incredible, unrealizable — hundreds of men, with the
light of insanity in their eyes, roaming whither and for
what they know not, and animated by a belief that brings
the dark ages into the dawn of the twentieth century.
"They are eating to supplement the gifts of bread
made by the villages en route, dried rosebuds, herbs, leaves,
grasses, in fact, almost anything vegetable in its origin.
They believe there will be no winter and no cold weather,
that there will be two summers this year. Mr. Speers
asked ' John the Baptist,' who was one of the earliest to
discard his rubbers : ' Where are your boots ? '
" ' Jesus had no boots,' was the answer.
" ' But your feet will get cold ? ' protested the kindly
agent. " ' Jesus keeps my feet warm,' replied the forerunner.

238 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
"Many of them walk the entire night, their bodies
seeming insensible to fatigue that would kill many men.
When they marched into Yorkton they bore from a dozen
to twenty stretchers, improvised of poplar poles and gray
blankets, on which they bore their sick and feeble folk.
By the hand they led a man past fifty years of age, born
blind. He is now in the Immigration Hall. I saw him
an hour ago, his sightless eyes uplifted in an ecstasy of
beatific vision. little tots of three and four toddled along
clinging to their mothers' skirts, some gazing in childish
wonder at the trains, and the streets, and the elevators ;
others prattling with laughter, and many crying quietly
for the food their misguided mothers refused to let them
eat." The same correspondent reported that there were 1,060
women and children then housed in the Immigration Hall
and in the other shelters provided by Government.
" In addition to this, there are between fifty and
seventy-five unaffected Doukhobdrs in town. These have
followed relations hoping to induce them to return to
their farms.
" A walk through these buildings at about nine o'clock,
when the occupants are preparing to retire for the night,
is a sight to be remembered. Some are already asleep,
coiled up on sacks stuffed with hay, or gray blankets.
Others are sitting on the floor, watching the coming and
going of women and visitors, with the stolid, vacuous in
difference of the Slav. In one corner twenty or thirty
women squat on the floor in rows facing each other and
sing psalms. Dotted like sentinels among the recum
bent figures are thick-set and sturdy women with lowered
heads, and arms crossed meekly over their bosoms, engaged
in their evening devotions. At the door can be seen the

[From a Photograph by G. Riddington.
THE PILGRIMS: A HALT BY THE WAY. p x

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 239
special constable, carrying a lantern and seeing that all
are comfortably disposed for the night. A big Rochester
lamp, suspended in the centre of the room, throws strong
and grotesque shadows among the occupants below. The
room is a very riot of colour, brilliant in crimsons, pinks,
purples, greens, blues, and white. Here is a woman, sixty
years of age, with the insane light of religious mania
gleaming from her eyes, who tells me that she is to be the
mother of Jesus. Here a mother tries to hush her sick
baby. She is fearful lest it be taken away from her, and
its soul for ever ruined by a doctor giving it medicine.
Over yonder is a girl of eighteen, one of the most comely
in the crowd. She came to Yorkton barefooted. She had
no nourishing food for days, and refused to eat. Exposure
and weakness have given her pneumonia. So fearful were
her comrades, and she herself, of letting the officials know
that she was ill, that the fact was not discovered till this
morning. Then Dr. Cash came to see her, but she refused
to take either food or medicine. At six o'clock she was
worse, but still conscious, and as inflexibly determined as
ever to neither eat nor drink. When I made the rounds of
the buildings at nine she was in a comatose state, and
heroic measures were necessary. She was lifted^off the
bunk. Gentle force was exerted to compel her to un
clasp her teeth and take the medicine. Even then,
almost delirious as she was, she refused for some time to
swallow it."
My next quotation is from a letter, written in January
1903 by Herbert P. Archer, which serves to remind us
what wheels within wheels were at work.
" Another motive of the Pilgrimage has emerged from

240 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the secrecy in which the Doukhobdrs try to keep the real
springs of the whole matter. This is the hope they had that
the march would so inconvenience the Government that it
would concede their demands as to the land question and
registration (enabling them to form a solid community of
their own, independent of any but their own government),
or would at once take means to transport them to a warm
climate. This motive has been hinted at before, but we
got full confirmation of it only when we got to the villages
most affected by the movement. Thus, partly, at any
rate, the Pilgrimage was, like the ' Address to all Nations'
of a couple of years ago, a piece of politics masked by
religious phraseology and Biblical texts. One hears
absolutely nothing nowadays of the earth being God's
and therefore not to be taken as private property (that
argument of the Address). Instead of which, when we go
to Kamenka, we find the Stundist Russians there in a very
unsettled state. They hoped to settle in fellowship with
the Doukhobdrs, who, on their side, ignore them, and have
no intercourse with them, except to tell them they have no
right on ' our land,' and that they must go away ! . . .
" We have been thinking of the Doukhobdrs as a
religious people. Really, as always, there are religious
Doukhobdrs, but not a religious Doukhobdr sect. The
sect, because it is a sect, is self-centred, self-righteous, and
intolerant. " Individuals perceive this, but the mass are sub
merged." Vladimir TchertkofTs paper, Svobodnoe Slovo (The Free
Word), published a letter from Alexey Mahdrtof, dated
29th September 1903, describing the Second Pilgrimage
with its nudity parades. In it he tells us how he and

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 241
other Doukhobdrs with women and children, to the
number of more than forty-five in all, " went and
preached how one should live rightly." He says, "After
the 12th of May, we went in the manner of the first man
Adam and Eve, to show nature to humanity, how man
should return into his fatherland and return the ripened
fruit and its seeds."
The letter is, in some parts, almost unintelligible, but
it is so characteristic of the semi-sane fanaticism of this
small section of Doukhobdr zealots, as to be well worth
reproducing. " We began to go naked from the village of Efremovka
and finished at the village of Nadezhda. We went through
sixteen villages in all. When we were stopped naked,*
we were much beaten with twigs, all in blood, so that it
was terrible to see us.
" Then we were surrounded by some twenty men,
and were not allowed to enter the village. And night
came on ; the weather was bad, rain and snow and wind.
Then we clustured into one heap, and lay on the ground
one on another. And those who guarded us stopped for
the night near us ; they put on their sheepskin coats and
cloaks. We remained naked ; and really it was wonderful
to us ourselves that in such a wind we were not frozen.
Those who stood guard over us publicly announced that
the cold that came on was a very great cold, but not one
of the naked was frozen."
He then tells how twenty-eight of them reached
Yorkton on the 21st of May, and were met by mounted
police. "We stopped, undressed and advanced." The
next day they were tried at Yorkton, and sentenced to
three months' imprisonment at Regina. Why these
* By the other Doukhobdrs, apparently.

242 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
semi-sane religious enthusiasts (who had done nothing worse
than walk about naked) should have been sentenced to
prison for three months is not at all obvious. They were in
fact kept at the Immigration Hall in Yorkton till the 9th
of July, when they were sent on to the prison at Regina,
which they reached on the 10th of July. Here, from
Mahdrtof's account, it seems that they refused to submit
to prison discipline, considering that they had done nothing
to deserve it. They were (if Mahdrtof may be trusted)
cruelly tortured day after day while in prison. They were
beaten with ropes and reins till their bodies were marked
with blue bruises. They were dragged about by their
hair and beards; their arms were twisted — Vasily
Ryazanofs arm was so injured that he was unable to use
it for five days, and the doctor had to be called in.
Mahdrtof himself was tossed and thrown heavily on the
ground. They were held up by their heels and their
heads dipped in buckets of water till they were almost
suffocated. Peter Zirtchoukdf was beaten with a chair
till he felt ill. The Governor of the prison paid no
attention to their complaints, but two of them (after
being treated in this manner) had to be sent to the Insane
Asylum at Brandon.
Now, these statements may be true, or thev may
be untrue. They certainly call for inquiry ! What
is evident is that if they are true, they are disgraceful
to the Canadian prison administration; while if they
are untrue, it is disgraceful that they should be pub
lished without verification, and without any word of
caution, in the official Tolstoyan organ. Circulating
among the Doukhobdrs, and reaching a circle of
readers already strongly biased against laws and govern
ments, such reports are sure to produce an impression

[From a Photograph by W. Simpson.
PILGRIMS ORDERED TO DRESS. Plate XI

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 243
of Canadian injustice as injurious as one hopes it is
inaccurate. Mahdrtof s letter concludes by telling what befel them
after they got home. All but ten of the twenty-eight fell
away from the true faith, and lapsed into work. " Having
waited a little, we " (the ten righteous ones) " began again
to be active in God's service ; we trampled down with a
roller the growing corn on a space of some fifty yards of
ground. And why? That men should not put their
trust in human science, but should trust in God. And we
also burnt a binding-machine. Why ? That our brethren
should not torment animals, but should trust in God.
And we wanted to set fire to a threshing-machine, but
were prevented. Six of us were arrested and sent to
Yorkton. But I am still at home, because I was not on
the spot at the time.
" But I am kept as if under arrest, and am prevented
from going from village to village. It is so sad that I
cannot think about it. I sit without work ; my work
humanity does not wish to accept, yet it is not my work,
but God's. I have sat for a week in the hut, with the
windows nailed up, as in a prison."
The Svobodnoe Slovo publishes this as the first of a
series of four letters on the same subject. The fourth
(which is undated, but which is published as if it were a
comment on the foregoing) is from Leo Tolstoy, who
says —
" My view of this movement among the Canadian
Doukhobdrs is that materially they have injured them
selves. But this movement has shown that there lives in
them what is most precious and important — a religious
feeling, not passive and contemplative, but active, drawing
them to the renunciation of material advantages. . . .

244 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
"One must remember that the material well-being
they have now attained thanks to communal life, rests
entirely on the religious feeling which showed itself
in their movement to free the cattle ; and that this feeling
is more precious than anything else, and woe not to them
'n whom it shows itself in a perverted form (I refer to
undressing when entering villages), but to him in whom it
has dried up."
The spiritual stirrings, manifested by burning agri
cultural machinery, are tenderly dealt with by Tchertkoff;
at least, I have found, in the Russian publications which
he circulated among the Doukhobdrs, no condemnation of
that practice nearly as strenuous as the condemnations of
promises, and of anything tending towards definiteness in
human relations. (" A promise is the same as an oath,"
" Christ said, ' Do not swear ! '" "A man must be free."
" A promise ties the conscience and the actions of a man."
" Even in little things we want to be free," etc.)
The pity of it ! The Greek Church strove to induce
these poor peasants to bow before icdns, to accept the
Creeds, to be spiritually nourished by the eucharist, and
to believe in the right divine of Tsars to govern wrong !
The Russian Government insisted on training them to
slay their fellow-men in wars they disapproved of, about
disputes they knew nothing of, and for ends that would
bring them no advantage ! The Tolstoyans held them up
to the admiration of mankind, as types of true Christianity ;
and printed books assuring them their faith was "just the
same as that of Jesus Christ ; " while a large part of the
Canadian Press was eager to treat them, not as human
beings to be helped, but as material for an ignoble political
squabble.

MORE ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE 245
Amid such confusion and contradiction, how was a
poor Doukhobdr to find the true path? What he has
heard in Canada of our race, is largely an echo of
Imperialism : of the Boer War and of indentured Chinese
labour. Who then can wonder if advice from any of us
has no more effect on him than water on a duck's back ?
The situation is a very difficult one. How are these
poor people to break away from their hide-bound sec
tarianism ? How are they to find the truth ? What is
needed is frank, sensible advice and criticism from some one
in whom they have confidence. But all the traditions of
their sect tend to prevent them from feeling confidence in
any one outside their own body. Within their body
Peter Verigin's authority is supreme, but his letters show
that adroit and able as he is as a practical politician, he
is himself far too perplexed to be able to guide others in
abstract matters.
Yet, when one remembers what they have endured :
their comprehension of the evils of imperialism, militarism,
and class-exploitation — and when one contrasts their lives
and beliefs with those of our own agricultural labourer,
or slum-dweller — one sees another side of the picture, and
cannot but admire a folk who isolated, oppressed, and
deceived, have yet endured and accomplished so much
for ideas which were at least not personally selfish.
How little truth has been told them, and how many
lies ! What fine material there is in them for the building
of a better future ! The fields indeed are ripe unto the
harvest. Oh, that the Lord of the harvest would endow
the labourers he sends into his harvest with a double
portion of those rarest of virtues — truthfulness and
common sense !

CHAPTER VIII
COMMUNISM
A communal form of property holding is now general
among the Doukhobdrs. It was once the usual form among
primitive nations. Western nations have so completely
dropped the practice that they have come to look upon it
as abnormal, Utopian, or even impossible, and I frequently
found that Canadians regarded communism as a form of
society sure to die out in contact with the better indi
vidualistic form common in civilized countries. In
England, too, I found that members of the Friends'
Doukhobdr Committee, sensible, practical, conscientious
men — quite ready to approve of the Doukhobdr repudia
tion of militarism — looked on communism as something
erratic and by no means to be approved or encouraged.
Nearly every one had a decided opinion on this matter,
but I met no one who gave an intelligible and sufficient
reason for disapproving of communism. The few who
approved of it, on the other hand, gave what at first sight
seemed satisfactory reasons for their view.
In the studies of our economists (e.g. John Stuart
Mill) communism receives respectful treatment, and in
the aspirations of some reformers (e.g. William Morris) it
is looked forward to as an ideal. Our opportunities of
seeing its advantages and disadvantages in practice, are,
24-6

COMMUNISM 247
however, so rare that we cannot afford to miss the
chance presented by the Doukhobdr settlement in Canada
of studying it in operation.
By examining Doukhobdr communism we may inci
dentally throw light on the strength or weakness of
Tolstoy's criticism of modern civilization. No one who
has any knowledge of the present conditions of life (say
in England for example) can doubt the validity of much of
his negative criticism. Labour divorced from the soil ; eight
hundred thousand people living in illegally overcrowded
dwellings in London alone ; children going hungry to
school ; vast revenues flowing into the pockets of men
who have not earned them ; town populations losing their
energy, and dying out in the third generation unless renewed
from the country districts, where, again, the labourer is
hopeless of ever being allowed to own the land he works —
all this, surely, justifies a scathing indictment. Above
all, we know that the grinding poverty of the many,
though it brings wealth to the few does not bring them
health or real happiness. To live a genuine life men need
to be in touch with the real problems of human existence ;
to be happy they must learn to co-operate with their
fellows for worthy objects, but the complexity and
artificiality of modern society make a normal life almost
unattainable and cut men off from what is best and most
important for them.
But granting — and it surely cannot reasonably be
denied — the validity of much of Tolstoy's indictment of
modern society, may we assume that he is right as to the
remedy ?
To answer that question one has to discriminate
between two sides of it. As to the first of these, un
doubtedly the remedy lies in the direction pointed out by

248 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Tolstoy : it is by serving his fellows that man truly lives. It
is only by thought, and effort, and by loving sacrifice, that
true progress is accomplished. But as to the second side
of the matter (it is here the crux comes), is Tolstoy right
when he tells us that as a matter of moral duty we ought
to use no force to our fellow-man, to hold no private
property, and to reject every system of law or government
that employs a policeman or a soldier ?
When we have studied the Doukhobdrs we shall, I
think, be better able to answer this question.
To show the point of view from which (before they
reached Canada) I personally, in common with many
admirers of Tolstoy, looked on Doukhobdr communism,
let me quote from an article I contributed to the New
York Outlook in December 1898 ;
Christ, whether rightly or wrongly, is certainly reported to have
said many things which cannot be made to agree with the ideal of
' getting on " and " being successful. '' The practice of the Preacher-
Carpenter who " had not where to lay his head," who is not recorded
as having possessed a single coin, who had nothing to leave to his
mother, and whose grave was borrowed from a friend, accords fully
with the message he delivered when he preached " good tidings to
the poor," and said, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
earth " ; " Beware of all covetousness, for a man's life consists not
in the abundance of the things that he possesses " ; " Woe unto ye
rich"; "Blessed are ye poor" ; "Call no man master" ; and
"The truth shall make you free.''
What business man in our civilized society can carry on his affairs
in accordance with Christ's advice, ' ' Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."
Quite naturally a simple peasant-folk, who take religion seriously,
as something important and intimately linked to daily life and con
duct, find themselves obliged either to look out for a religion which
shall suit them better than that of Christ, or to bring their lives
more nearly into conformity with his teachings. This is not the
case with those vast populations that have accepted the guidance of

COMMUNISM 249
priests, of an infallible Church, or of a creed whicli they accept, not
because it is reasonable, but as an act of faith (taking " faith " in
what has become its most common significance — viz. credulity).
But the Doukhob6rs are a people who have no priest, no infallible
Church, and among whom credulity has not been elevated into a
virtue.* To them the saying, " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do
not the things which I say," appeals with full force. They have no
priests, dogmas, or ceremonies to save them from the stress of
Christ's appeal to the reason and conscience which, dormant or
active, are in each of us.
What, then, are the Doukhobors doing towards carrying out
Christ's economic teaching ? They disapprove of private property,
aud aim at communism. They till their fields in common, and each
village divides up the produce after it has heen gathered in, according
to the number of members in each family. When, as during the
late persecution, one or several village communes are impoverished,
the other Doukhobor communities exert themselves very greatly to
succour them. And the communal conscience has made itself felt
to such a degree that a redistribution of property has been under
taken in order that all might be approximately on one level of
material well-being.
Of course, as with all things human, these attempts are not fully
and completely successful. Not every Doukhobor lives his life free
from the evils of covetousness. In their dealings with the rest of
the world they are scrupulously honest and faithful in performing
all that they undertake ; but still the money element, which by
their own showing is a sure sign that service is being rendered not
from love, but from some lower motive, is present in the transaction.
If, however, we realize that progress is the natural and proper
condition in which humanity exists, the effort made by the Doukho
bors assumes its proper importance. The Doukhobors like the
early Christians, and like many sects persecuted as heretics by the
dominant churches, strive to bring their actual economic and social
life as nearly into conformity with the demands of conscience as
they can. And this is a progressive movement, never resting for
many years on one level, sometimes even retrograding for a time,
and then, under other circumstances, again advancing.
And what have been the practical results of this spirit of
* The reader will please remember that this was written before I
knew them intimately.

250 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
co-operation and mutual aid among the Doukhobors ? Just this :
that they have prospered whenever the Government has left them
alone ; that, banished to the inclement Wet Mountains of the
Caucasus, where even the barley crop failed as often as it ripened,
and left at the mercy of wild hill-tribes who were continually
fighting and stealing among themselves, these Doukhob6rs prospered
and inspired respect among their neighbours ; that, when persecution
burst upon them, they stood by each other, and (though more than
a thousand perished in three years out of one community of four
thousand) they survived under circumstances which seemed to insure
their extermination unless they abjured their faith.
I have quoted at such length, first to show that I
certainly approached the matter with no bias against
communism, and, secondly, to show the line of thought
that led me to favour that form of property-holding.
The error I made in supposing that communism existed
among the Doukhobdrs when they were banished to the
Caucasus, was one I shared with the Tolstoyans generally.
It seemed to me that the individual ownership of
property was a sign of selfishness, but that the communal
ownership of property was a sign of unselfishness; and
this was just the view expressed by Tolstoy. In February
1900, when it seemed evident that a large part of the
Doukhobdrs in Canada were inclined to adopt individual
ism, Tolstoy sent them an urgent letter (given in the
next chapter) exhorting them to communism, and express
ing, in the strongest manner, the belief that communism
is a moral — as contrasted with individualism which is an
immoral — form of property holding. When Tolstoy's
letter was written, neither he nor any of us knew how
strong a hold Verigin has on their allegiance and reverence,
nor how little any arguments or exhortations from outside
would affect them one way or other. Tolstoy's letter (as
impressive a statement of the view now adopted by the

ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL.

Plate XII.

COMMUNISM 251
Doukhobdr community as could well be framed) had
practically no effect on them at the time, and the move
ment from communism towards individualism continued to
gain ground until Verigin reversed it. This again shows
that the influence Tolstoy has exercised on the Doukho
bdrs has operated through Verigin. Tolstoy's writings
have only had a small effect directly on the sect, but he
has had a considerable effect on Verigin's opinions, and
Verigin's opinions have been almost unquestioningly
accepted by the general body of Doukhobdrs.
One may pause here to notice that two different ques
tions are very frequently confused ; the first is whether
communism is practically the wisest and best way of
getting the people's material needs provided for ; the
second is whether communism is, in general (and apart
from the special circumstances of a particular case) morally
superior to individualism. I think the sequel will show
that the two questions must be kept distinct.
There were circumstances connected with the Dou
khobdr migration, which brought prominently to the front
certain advantages communism undoubtedly possesses.
The actual financing of the movement ; the planning of
their future villages ; the distribution of what was collected
for the Doukhobdrs, were all made easier by whatever
tended to throw the Doukhobdrs' possessions into a common
lot, and were made more difficult by whatever tended in
the contrary direction. The advantages of communism in
making small resources go as far as possible, were very
evident when it became a question of supplying each
village with a couple of horses, or a few cows. A much-
needed loan (which might have been successfully negotiated
had the Doukhobdr commune been as firmly centralized
in 1898 as it is now that Peter Verigin is among them)

252 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
broke down just because their community was then in too
fluid and indefinite a state to be able to offer good col-
lective security.
Prince D. A. Hilkdff and all the Russians most capable
of judging and most interested in the problem of getting
the Doukhobdrs comfortably and successfully settled, were
keenly anxious to induce them to adopt, or retain,
communism. The Garden City Movement and the Ealing Tenants
Limited, in England to-day, are attempts to recover in
an individualistic state, economic advantages which would
naturally accrue to communistic societies.
But whatever the advantages of communism may be,
no sooner had the first Doukhobdrs reached Canada than
it became obvious that many of them preferred to face
the risks and dangers of individualism, — nor do I think that
in so choosing they were mainly prompted by selfishness,
or showed themselves morally inferior to their brethren.
From 1899 when they reached Canada, to 1903 when
Peter Verigin joined them there and assumed active
leadership, an unusual state of things existed. They
were, during that time, unable to decide either for or
against communism. As has already been described in
a previous chapter, some villages became communist,
others individualist. The people everywhere had their
own clothes, utensils, and personal belongings ; but in
regard to wages earned at railway construction, or by
gathering senega root, — as well as in all that concerned
raising crops, marketing surplus produce, purchasing sup
plies, dividing the work, tending, rearing, using and selling
horses or cattle — a number of villages were communist,
while others were individualist ; and the number of com
munist village gradually diminished, though it was evident

one of the new school.

Plate XIII.

COMMUNISM 253
(from the statistics of their cattle, horses, and implements,
as well as from other indications) that the communist
villages generally prospered more rapidly than the indi
vidualist villages. So marked was the tendency towards
individualism that the best informed judges on the spot,
felt sure that an end of Doukhobdr communism was not
far off.Herbert P. Archer, for instance, wrote of the Saskat
chewan Doukhobdrs, in August 1900 : " Only one of the ten
villages is now communistic and some unfortunate families
are left more or less stranded. Among the Swan River
villages there are three really communistic and likely to
remain so ; one is avowedly individualistic, and in the rest
is war : individualists versus communists. Among the
Yorkton villages there are now few communal villages,
and they will be fewer before the year is out."
It was also very noticeable that while the members
of some communist villages in which there were strong
leaders, and of individualist villages where no strong com
munist party was trying to alter that arrangement, were
able to live in comparative peace and harmony, consider
able friction and dissatisfaction became manifest wherever
there was any indefiniteness as to the arrangement that was
to prevail. Uncertainty as to what one man may fairly
claim from another, seems fatal to good feeling. This, I
believe, is a fundamental fact of great importance in all
human society* that to promote peace and amity among
men a distinct understanding as to the limits oftheir property
claims on one another is essential, quite apart from the
question whether they mean to use their property selfishly
or unselfishly. A man may want a spade for no other
end than to dig potatoes for a poor neighbour, but
friction is almost sure to arise if he cannot find out

254 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
whether he has a right to the spade, or of whom he may
borrow it if it be not his.
An unpleasant feature of the situation was the un
friendly relation that sometimes arose between one village
and another. For instance, in December 1899, Archer
wrote —
" I am sorry to say that in one village your loan was
not much use to the people. It was a poor village and
needing help, and they bought horses with the money.
But it owed money to another and richer village, which
took away those horses, and credited the animals against
the debt at about half what they had cost. The horses
were not worth more, the richer village averred. This is
a very shameful piece of work, and is justly reprobated
by the better class of Doukhobdrs. But the creditor
village kept the horses, and for some time the debtor
village had to rely on the teams of a neighbouring village
to fetch its flour supply from town."'
The appearance of Peter Verigin on the scene quite
altered this state of affairs and the whole trend of events.
Not only did the individualist villages of the North and
South Colonies resume communism, but the communism of
the different villages was centralized, so that the communal
funds of both North and South Colony are now all con
trolled by a Committee of Three.
Of the material advantages that accrue from this
arrangement under Verigin's leadership, there can be no
doubt. Professor James Mavor of Toronto, whose interest
in the Doukhobdrs has already been mentioned, visited
them lately, and gave an account of their prosperity, of
which the following is a condensed summary.
" The Leader of the Doukhobdrs, Peter Verigin, is
indeed a remarkable man. He has altered the character

COMMUNISM 255
of the community, has changed their mode of agriculture,
gradually introducing modern methods, and has built up
an organization out of chaos. Several thousand acres of
land have been broken, and the area under cultivation this
year will be much greater than that sown last year. Mr.
Verigin is determined to have first-class horses and cattle.
Just now he is negotiating the purchase of some high-
class stock. In the past year or two the colony has pur
chased land to a value of $60,000, and invested largely
in farm machinery. The latest implement secured is a
steam plough, the first in use in that part of the country.
At present eight steam mills are at work in the com
munity. These run flour mills, saw mills, flax mills, etc.
The engines are in perfect order, and during the twelve
months they have been in the settlement have not been
idle one working day. From one kind of work to another
they are moved about, so that full advantage is taken of
them. " A large warehouse for, the distribution of goods
among the villages is being built in a convenient central
position on the Canadian Pacific new line, which runs
through the Doukhobdr lands. Last year 100,000
bushels of wheat were grown, and the Colony has a
milling capacity for this amount. This is now no more
than sufficient — in fact, not quite sufficient — for their
own use. Owing to their plan of sowing flax in the newly
broken land, the amount of wheat raised does not increase
as rapidly as it otherwise would.
" I saw linen cloth of excellent quality made from
flax grown by the Doukhobdrs themselves in the North
west. At the present time the Colonists are building
large common stables for each village. Cattle, horses,
and even hens, are kept in common. In the winter the

256 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
men engage in lumbering on Government lands, for
which they hold permits. The Colony has purchased a
brick and tile-making plant. The building of so many
railways in their vicinity has enabled the Doukhobdrs to
make large earnings in cash. Practically all of this
is being used as capital for the exploitation of the
land. "All goods for the Colony are bought in wholesale
quantities. Sugar comes from Vancouver, leather from
Lindsay, Ontario ; cotton and woollen goods from various
places. This Doukhobdr community is the largest experi
ment in pure communism that has ever been attempted.
The total working force is about two thousand men. Of
these at least one thousand can be spared for work out
side the Colony. In this way they are in a position to
carry out large railway contracts.
" While no doubt there are in so large a body a few
who look with jealousy upon Peter Verigin, the great
bulk of the Doukhobdrs undoubtedly have implicit faith
in him. From early morning, when the village is roused
by the singing by a chorus which patrols the street, until
evening, when the same choir sings them to sleep, the
villagers find their work in common very agreeable to
them. They are, upon the whole, exceedingly comfort
able and happy. Village life has great attractions for
them. "Their working day is from five in the morning
until eight in the evening. But this is divided in a
fashion peculiar to themselves into three shifts of five hours
each. One shift of men and horses goes to work at five,
quitting at ten, for the five hours' rest, while another
shift continues the work. At three, the first shift resumes
work, and continues until 8 p.m. Thus, one shift of men

FLAX THRESHING.

Plate XIV.

COMMUNISM 257
and horses has had ten hours of work, broken by a
period of five hours' rest, the other has had but five
hours of work. The heavy and light shares of work
are taken turn and turn about by the two shifts of men
on alternate days."
" The foregoing remarks apply to what are known as
the North and South Colonies. The Doukhobdrs of the
Prince Albert Colony are more individualistic. They do
not hold their land in common, and only to a small
extent co-operate with their brethren of the North and
South Colonies.
" If Mr. Verigin can succeed in organizing the labour
of the large body of men he has to deal with, and in
holding them together, there is no doubt that in a few
years the Doukhobdr lands will be among the most pro
ductive in the north-west."
A proof even more convincing than this report of the
rapid progress the Doukhobdrs made last year, is fur
nished by the Communal Accounts presented to the
General Meeting held at the village of Nadezhda, on 28th
February 1904.
Verigin commenced his reign in Canada when every
thing was in confusion, and when a great waste of resources
had just taken place. Cattle and sheep had been set free,
clothing and harness had been burnt or abandoned, work
had been neglected, and enormous energy had run to waste
in a semi-political, semi-religious agitation which was quite
abnormal. Nevertheless, after a year's communal activity
he was able to present accounts in which the assets in
land, buildings, stock, implements, etc., etc., do not figure
at all ; in which all capital expenditure is classed as
ordinary expenditure, and which yet closes with outstand
ing liabilities (omitting future payments for land they

258 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
have contracted to purchase), of less than $ 50,000, repre
sented by debts to merchants for goods purchased, and to
the Yorkton Bank for money borrowed.
In considering these accounts one has to remember
to how large an extent the Doukhobdrs are self-support
ing, and consume what they produce. The monetary
transactions, which alone figure in these accounts, repre
sent only a part of the value of their production. What,
however, do the figures show us? The income is put
down at $166,901 ; made up of over $111,000 earned by
individual Doukhobdrs, nearly $8,000 earned by com
munal contracts, over $10,000 obtained by the sale of the
senega root (radix Senegal), which grows in their vicinity,
over $6,000 realized by the sale of cattle, $4,000 borrowed
from a Yorkton Bank (this should hardly have been
classed as income), while the balance came from a balance
of cash in hand to begin with, and from contributions
made by the Doukhobdrs to start the communal business.
Turning now to the expenditure, we find it divided
into five sections.
Section I. is expenditure for land. To Government,
$10 each for 2,137 homesteads, equal, $21,370 ; another
$10,000 has gone as part payment for land purchased,
chiefly from the Hudson's Bay Co. (The remaining
$50,000 of the $60,000 mentioned by Professor Mavor,
is, apparently, a liability not shown in the accounts —
which are of a rough-and-ready kind.)
Section II. is made up of purchases of horses and sheep
to a total of over $39,000.
Section III. consists of purchases of agricultural machi
nery for nearly $44,000. These first three sections deal
with what an ordinary trading company would consider as
investments of capital.

COMMUNISM 259
Section IV. is the only section that consists chiefly of
ordinary current expenditure. Over $29,000 has gone
for drapery, etc. $13,445 for harness and leather goods.
$5,000 for winter boots. $5,800 for iron goods, pots, pans
and tools. About $2,300 for "tea, sugar, and lubrica
tion for reapers and for carts." $2,725 for " salt, paraffin,
and glass." $1,780 for soap. The total of this section
(comprising nearly the whole of their ordinary expendi
ture) only comes to $86,908.
Section V. is, perhaps, the most remarkable of all. It
amounts to a little over $11,000 ; and, besides the repay
ment of over $4,000 of old debts, and such items as $200
for books and $285 for " paper, pencils, and other writ
ing materials, stamps, etc.," and $855 for "travelling
expenses of Peter Verigin and his attendants," it contains
such items as $500 "sent to brothers and Elders in
Yakutsk (Siberia) for the sick and those unable to work.
$300 sent to Leo Tolstoy in aid of the Pavlovtsi, who
have been condemned to penal servitude." (The Pav
lovtsi are not Doukhobdrs, and this remittance must be
regarded partly as an acknowledgment of Tolstoy's exer
tions on behalf of the Doukhobdrs.) $500 "sent to
Tchertkoff for his help to, and expenditure on behalf of,
the Doukhobdrs at the time of the migration." $300 to
a brother-in-law of Tchertkoff's, and $165 "paid to
Archer — teacher of the English language in the North
Colony."* * One decision arrived at by the meeting to which these accounts
were presented, was with regard to au offer the Friends (Quakers) of
Philadelphia had made to supply funds to erect a model school. It was
" decided to be unnecessary." V. Bontch-Brouevitch (to whose paper,
Razsvet, April 1901, 1 am indebted for these accounts) states the reason
for this decision, and it is a reason characteristic of the worst traits in
the Doukhobdr character — suspiciousness and needless distrust of other

260 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Even in small things a strong tendency to centraliza
tion and to the utilization of mechanical appliances is
noticeable. For instance, I lately received a type-written
letter in Russian from Verigin, evidently typed by his
secretary, and enclosing a cheque, repaying in one
remittance $1,250 which had been lent to five different
villages in 1899 ; a repayment that could easily have been
shirked (after all the confusion of the pilgrimage) had
the Doukhobdrs not wished to act honestly.
But the remarkable and quite unforeseen part of the
matter is this: that while the re-establishment of
communism does not at all indicate (as my Canadian
and Quaker friends seemed to think must be the case)
any industrial or social deterioration, neither does it at
all correspond (as I, agreeing in this respect with the
Tolstoyans, was at one time inclined to assume) with any
people. He says, " The Quakers establish their schools with the aim of
slyly catching pupils in the net of their creed. The Quakers always
introduce into their undertakings an element of hypocrisy, and when
helping people in distress or in misfortune (as they helped the Doukho
bdrs) they so arrange matters that au onlooker plainly sees that their
efforts are prompted by vanity, and by a wish to soothe their own con
sciences by their benefactions ; and that they wish to buy an entrance
ticket to the ' Kingdom of Heaven,' to which they ascend up a staircase
of arrogant benevolence." This is so grossly unjust to a sect which
contains as large a proportion of modest and disinterested men as any
religious body among us, that I am surprised Bontch-Brouevitch should
have published it and put his name to it. At the same time I am bound
to admit that I believe he is here correctly expressing the opinion of
many Doukhobdrs and of some of their Bussian advisers.
The Friends have rendered very valuable assistance to the Doukho
bdrs, and it is not their fault if their efforts have not always been rightly
appreciated; but suspicion has been ingrained in the Doukhobdrs
during generations. They do not themselves speak frankly and truth
fully to strangers about the aims of their seot, and they therefore cannot
believe that men of other seots are frank and truthful with them. The
Society of Friends would probably aot wisely in not, at present, pressing
on the Doukhobdrs any unsolicited assistance.

COMMUNISM 261
moral advance. In many cases it seems rather to indicate
the reverse.
To hold a commune together requires either a great
identity and immutability of life-habits, or a stereotyped
religious tradition : so that the members, from force of
habit or from religious hypnotism, may not wish to do
anything that runs counter to the communal customs.
The only other thing, apparently, that renders com
munism possible is a very strong leadership dominating
the entire group. In the case last mentioned, rapid
collective material progress is quite possible, so long as
the strong and capable leader is there to sanction changes
and decide what changes shall be tolerated, and when they
shall be introduced.
Readers of Walter Bagehot's Physics and Politics will
remember some acute remarks of his on the " cake of
custom" which is needed to hold primitive societies
together, as well as on the difficulty human societies have
in combining stability with progress. One sees Bagehot's
argument well illustrated by the example of the Doukho
bdrs, which also suggests that a temporary solution of the
dilemma may be found in the rule of a man (a Moses or
a Verigin) to whose words the authority of inspiration is
accorded. The objection to communism as we see it re-established
among them, is really a moral objection ; though, at first
sight, it may not appear as weighty as the moral indict
ment Tolstoy brings against individualism. The fact, I
suspect, is that any form of human organization that a
man of Tolstoy's powerful critical capacity, impulsive
temperament, and eagerness for human improvement
might live under, would (being an imperfect human
contrivance) seem to him abominably wicked; and the

262 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
form of which he had less personal experience would, by
contrast, always appear to him comparatively moral I
feel sure that if he cannot tolerate the yoke of Nicholas IL,
still less would he tolerate that of Peter Verigin, which
certainly comes closer to the actual daily life and thought
and occupation of each Doukhobdr than the rule of any
Emperor or Pope in Christendom comes to his subjects
or to the adherents of his Church. Nor do I say this
as blaming Verigin for his activity. His people needed
leadership, they asked for it, they had got into terrible
trouble for lack of it, and he has given it them, and
given it them with judgment and ability, not sparing him
self the drudgery of attention to details, nor the difficult
work of adjusting personal quarrels. My point merely is,
that the forces of disintegration which, though not at
present very strong or very much in evidence, certainly
exist among the Doukhobdrs (as shown by the fact that,
a few at a time, individual Doukhobdrs and Doukhobdr
families break off and escape from the commune), cannot
be fairly treated as proofs of selfishness or of moral
inferiority. Doubtless there are cases in which men break off under
selfish influences. A strong man, capable of earning good
wages, or seeing a chance to start on his own account,
may grudge the community the fruits of his labour, or
may feel that his exertions in the community are not
sufficiently esteemed. But though this is one disinte
grating factor, another, certainly present and which I am
inclined to believe must always have been a strong factor
in the decay of communes, is the moral revolt felt by
sincere and strenuous natures against the cramping influence
communism has on individuality, and against excessive
claims of allegiance to old-established customs, or to some

COMMUNISM 263
particular Leader. The narrow sectarianism or clannish-
ness that usually accompanies communism, must tend to
produce a reaction in independent minds. Where com
munism exists, a man who wishes to think his own thoughts
and express them, and to make his own experiments in
life and attempt reforms that seem to him desirable,
must (unless he be himself the Leader) inevitably produce
friction, and be a disintegrating force.
The position in which Verigin finds himself is one of
great difficulty, and it would be unfair to judge harshly
the shortcomings of one who is evidently trying to organize
a community for their advantage. The perplexity of the
position, and the difficulty of understanding what is going
on, is enormously increased by the fact that the view of
life he has picked up in exile is a critical view which has
a powerfully disintegrating tendency, whereas the work
he now has in hand is a constructive work the whole
direction of which runs counter to the philosophy he
has accepted. I spent some hours with Verigin when he
passed through London in December 1902, and my im
pression is that he does not himself see the dilemma he has
to face. If the extreme individualism of the Tolstoy
movement is to prevail : if " We cannot promise any
thing," "Even in little things we want to be free," — if,
that is to say, a man is always to act just as seems proper
to him at the moment, regardless of any social or political
obligations or agreements — then all such attempts as that
to which Verigin is applying his strength are foredoomed
to failure. It is only by people consenting to promise
much to one another, and sacrificing a large part of their
freedom, that any communist experiment or even any co
operative undertaking, can possibly succeed.
Through not seeing this, and through using the

264 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
individualist phraseology of the Tolstoyan while aiming at
a social practice, Verigin lays himself very open to accu
sations of insincerity, — accusations which I am reluctant
to accept, for I know how much more difficult it is to get
a human society to work than it is to frame indictments
of existing institutions. Still, make what allowance we
may, it remains true that " his voice is the voice of Jacob,
but his hands are the hands of Esau."
There is much in the state of the Doukhobdrs to-day
which reminds one of the state of the children of Israel
in the time of Moses : in both cases we have a theocracy
under a divinely appointed ruler, recognizing very exact
ing moral obligations in regard to other members of the
"peculiar people," but regarding all the Gentiles with
great suspicion, and not intermarrying with them.
The extraordinary conflict between the real circum
stances of the case, and the theory accepted by their Leader
while he was in exile, is thrown into prominence by the
fact that this exclusive clan, which aims at becoming not
merely a sect and a nation, but a great agricultural and
industrial company — calls itself by the curiously inappro
priate name of "The Christian Commune of Universal
Brotherhood." There is no denying the service P. Verigin renders to
the Doukhobdrs by acting as their Leader. But there is
also no denying that there is a considerable element of
secrecy and covert despotism about it, and the opposition
to it is, in some cases, a moral revolt entailing heavy
material sacrifices.
"Dissatisfaction at the new communist regime is
keener at Devil's Lake than elsewhere," wrote a well-
informed observer, in August 1903, "and quite a few
Doukhobdrs are leaving the villages. Their brethren

COMMUNISM 265
revile them as ' no Doukhobdrs ' and call them ' Galicians,'
which is a kind of insult. (The Doukhobdrs despise the
Galicians.) According to Verigin's orders individualists
must leave the villages, and this probably prevents many
from rebelling, who, for all that, are unwilling communists.
Communism brings discord and strife. At Novo-Trdytskoe
(not the Devil's Lake village of that name, but the other)
there have been at least, five regular fights since communism
was forced on them. It is not easy to get details of these
things, but on one occasion, at least, it was a matter of
pitchforks and staves. A Doukhobdr from the Devil's
Lake Novo-Trdytskoe, told me that when they were
individualists they lived peacefully, but latterly there has
been much quarrelling and some fighting."
Iv&n Kanigin appears to be a typical case of a man
dissatisfied with communism. He was a member of
Trdytskoe village, in the Swan River Colony, working
with his brother and having two sons. The village was
individualist, and took no part in the pilgrimage move
ment. The family had horses, cows, sheep, implements,
and considerable land under cultivation. Verigin on his
arrival in Canada got the village to go in for communism.
Kanigin offered some objections, but Verigin spoke of
communism as a kind of experiment which, after a year or
so, could be given up if not liked. So Kanigin agreed to
try it, and has been unhappy almost ever since. Com
munism has not resulted in brotherly relations in the
village, and Kanigin has chafed under the authority of
the Leader. Before the year was out he felt it necessary
to withdraw from membership in the community, but
found that he had to face much unpleasantness. He was
of course told that he was 'no Doukhobdr,' and his
request to have his property (or enough of it to enable

266 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
him to restart with) returned, was met by a refusal. They
gave him only one horse and one cow, a small proportion
of what he had contributed a year before and not suflicient
for him to get on with. He had worked on the land all
summer, yet his supplies of flour from the communal store
were stopped ; and it became difficult for him to get in
firewood, to plough, or even to fetch flour and other
supplies from the nearest town. Kanigin is said to be " a
reliable man, who is really sacrificing much for conscientious
reasons. He feels keenly the disharmony set up by the
adoption of communism in the village, and he cannot
stand, or rather bow, to Verigin's authority. As he
expresses it, ' I cannot say Boss ! ' "
Kanigin himself writes me, after alluding to the
persecution the Doukhobdrs suffered in the Caucasus —
" Good or bad, that has all passed ; but I think
perhaps they bore oppression from the Government because
they were too weak to resist, and that if the Doukhobdrs
had been stronger than the Government, they would have
treated the Government worse than it treated them.
" The Doukhobdrs have arranged a Commune, called
the Christian Commune of Universal Brotherhood, and
this whole year they have worshipped it just as the priests
worship some holy image ; and they do not see that it is
nourished by anger, by defrauding one another, by slander,
and by violence. The fraudulent violence we have to
submit to is, that though they say ' let those join who
wish to, and let those remain outside who like,' they go
on to add, ' only let each one understand that he who
does not live in community must not be called a Dou
khobdr, and will not have freedom from military service.
His children will be taken as soldiers, and he shall have
no land among the Doukhobdrs.'"

COMMUNISM 267
In June 1903 a friend wrote me —
" There is a great deal of dissatisfaction about the
new state of affairs by which every village has to be
communist. Some are dissatisfied from selfish motives,
probably ; but others, because they see that it spells
despotism. These latter point out that always with them
communism has been accompanied by despotism. When
they were a communist organization at Milky Waters, it
was under the iron rule of Kapoustin. After his death,
everything went to pieces because of the weakness and
vices of succeeding Leaders, and outrages occurred that
resulted in the removal of the sect to the Caucasus. Last
Sunday, talking of those times, a Doukhobdr, who is a
dissatisfied individualist, admitted that the expulsion from
the Milky Waters was the result of misdoings among
them. But the poor individualists — who have my entire
sympathy, whether they be selfish or freedom-loving (free
dom, even if it be freedom to be selfish, is more valuable
than imposed communism) — are quite helpless. Verigin
has arranged things very cleverly, and the way out is so
difficult that few are likely to attempt it.
" Everything is more and more centralized. . . . The
Swan River men have been told to go out to work at once,
the Leader being displeased that they have not already
gone. They are to make every effort to earn much money,
and on their return full accounts of their work and pay
are to be rendered to the Leader."
One of the objectionable methods adopted to impose
communism on unwilling members is the separation,
when possible, of dissentient husbands from their wives
(in case the husband secedes and the wife can be induced
to remain in the community).
The story of Doukhobdr communism is an unfinished

268 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
one. It is worth attention as being one of the most
remarkable economic and social experiments now proceed
ing within the confines of the British Empire.
It would be rash to express an opinion as to what the
next development among the Doukhobdrs will be, but I
venture to summarize a few conclusions to which the con
sideration of the matter has brought me.
First. — For a poor and homogeneous group of people,
under efficient and strong leadership, communism offers
great advantages ,by enabling them to secure food, cloth
ing, housing and fuel for all (especially for the old people,
the children, and the sick), much more easily than can be
accomplished where each family is economically isolated.
Second. — This result can hardly be permanently
attained without some repression of the mental and moral
development of the people. The dominance of the Leader
(or, in default of a Leader, the rigidity of tribal or sec
tarian customs) seems so essential to the existence and
permanence of such a group, that loyalty and devotion to
him (or to them), acceptance of his ideas, and blindness to
his failings, grow to an excessive extent and ultimately pro
duce a revolt in men of independent minds. (The utility of
loyalty to the Leader in primitive communes helps us to
understand, as atavism, those displays of enthusiastic
devotion to kings, queens, and princes which are of quite
common occurrence even among ourselves, whose economic
and social welfare no longer depends on the titular chief
of the state.)
Third. — It is an error to suppose that the cause of
the gradual supersession of communal property by private
property all the world over lies solely, or chiefly, in
selfishness ; or that the one system always deserves a moral
preference over the other. It is really a question of which

COMMUNISM 269
system is better suited to a given folk at a given time and
place. As soon as men can afford to do so, they are likely
to try to free themselves from the yoke of communism,
even at considerable economic loss. The greater freedom
afforded by individualism for personal experiments, justifies
the sacrifice ; though the increasing evils of commercial
competition again, in their turn, will evoke a revolt based
partly on selfish and partly on moral grounds.
Fourth. — This view is far from presenting any excuse
for a selfish use of property. It remains the moral duty
of every strong and capable person (whether in individualist
or communist society) to render to society service exceed
ing the value of what he or she consumes. For, if the
strong and capable fail to do this, the burden of doing
too heavy a share in proportion to their ability must
necessarily fall on those weaker and less capable. It is
the neglect of this plain duty (and the fact that the
complexity of modern society hides from men's perception
the evils caused by sloth and luxury among the rich) that
evokes those attacks on private property, which are being
formulated ever more and more trenchantly by moralists
and thinkers, and echoed more and more fiercely by
socialists and anarchists.

CHAPTER IX
A LETTER FROM TOLSTOY TO
THE CANADIAN DOUKHOBORS
Deae Brothers and Sisters,
All of us who profess, and wish our lives to accord
with, the Christian teaching, ought to help one another.
And the most needful help is — to point out one to another
the sins and temptations into which we fall unawares.
And therefore, asking my brethren to help me against
those sins and temptations which I overlook, I consider it
my duty to point out to you, dear brothers and sisters, a
temptation to which, as I hear, some of you are yielding.
You suffered and were exiled, and are still suffering
want, because you wished, not in words but in deeds, to
lead a Christian life. You refused to do any violence to
your neighbours, to take oaths, to serve as police or
soldiers ; and you even burnt your own weapons lest you
should be tempted to use them in self-defence ; and in
spite of all persecutions you remained true to the Christian
teaching. Your deeds became known, and the enemies of
the Christian teaching were troubled when they heard of
them, and they first arrested and transported you, and
then exiled you from Russia — seeking as much as possible
to prevent your example from becoming known. Those
who accept the Christian teaching were glad and triumphed;
270

A LETTER FROM TOLSTOY 271
and they loved and praised you, and tried to follow in
your footsteps. Your deeds helped much to destroy the
dominion of evil, and to confirm men in Christian truth.
Now, however, I learn by letters from our friends, that
the life of many of you in Canada is such that the friends
of the Christian teaching are confounded, and its enemies
rejoice and triumph. " See now — these are your Dou
khobdrs ! " say the enemies of Christianity. " As soon as
they reach Canada, a free country, they begin to live
like other people, and to gather property each for him
self; and not only do they not share each with his
brethren, but each tries to seize as much as possible for
himself. So that, evidently, all they did before was only
done at their Leaders' order, and without their well know
ing why they did it."
Dear brothers and sisters, I know and understand the
difficulty of your position in a foreign country, among
strangers who give no one anything freely, and I know
how terrible it is to think that those near to one, and the
weak ones of one's own family, may remain destitute and
lacking support. I know how difficult it is to live in
community, and how hard it is to work for others who
are not industrious, and who consume what they do not
earn. AH this I know ; but I know also that if you wish
to continue to live a Christian life, and do not wish to
disavow all for the sake of which you suffered and were
exiled from your fatherland, then you must not live as the
world lives, each accumulating property separately for
himself and his own family, and withholding it from
others. It only seems as if it were possible to be a
Christian and yet to have property and withhold it from
others, but, really, this is impossible. If once such a
thing be admitted, very soon nothing of Christianity will

272 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
be left except empty words — and words, alas ! that will
be insincere and hypocritical. Christ has said that one
cannot serve God and Mammon ; one of the two — either
gather for yourself property, or live for God. At first
it seems as if there were no contradiction between the re
nunciation of violence and refusal of military service on
the one hand, and the recognition of private property on
the other. "We, Christians, do not bow down before
external gods ; do not take oaths ; do not go to law ; do
not kill," say many among us, " and when, by our own
labour we obtain property (not for our enrichment, but to
secure those near to us), we not only do not transgress
the teaching of Christ, but we even obey it if from our
superfluity we help the destitute." But this is not true.
In reality, property means — that what I consider mine,
I not only will not give to whoever wishes to take it, but
will defend from him. And to defend from another what
I consider mine is only possible by violence; that is (in
case of need) by a struggle, a fight, or even by murder.
Were it not for this violence, and these murders, no one
would be able to hold property.
If we do retain property without using violence, this
is only possible because our property is defended by the
threat of violence, and by actual violence and murder,
perpetrated upon those around us.
If we do not defend our property and yet it is not
taken from us, this occurs only because people think that
we, like others, shall defend it.
Therefore, to acknowledge property is to acknowledge
violence and murder ; and if you acknowledge property,
which is only maintainable by soldiers and police, there
was no need for you to refuse military or police service.
Those who perform military and police service and make

A LETTER FROM TOLSTOY 273
use of property, act better than those who refuse to be
soldiers or policemen but yet wish to enjoy property.
Such men wish, without serving, to make use of the ser
vice of others for their own advantage. The Christian
teaching cannot be taken piecemeal : it is all or nothing.
It is inseparably united into one whole. If a man
acknowledges himself to be a son of God, from that
acknowledgment flows the love of his neighbour ; and
from love of his neighbour flow, equally, the repudiation
of violence, of oaths, of state service, and of property.
Moreover, partiality to property is in itself a snare,
and Christ shows that it is so. He says that man should
not take care for the morrow, not because this will be
meritorious, or because God so commands, but because
such care leads to nothing — is impossible ; and he who so
cares will commit a folly by trying to do what is im
possible. Man cannot secure himself : first, because he is
mortal (as is shown in the Gospel parable of the rich man
who built barns), and, secondly, because one can never
find the limit of security required. For how long a
period should one secure oneself ? For a month ? for
a year ? for ten years ? or for fifty ? Should one secure
only oneself? or one's children? and one's grand
children? And to what extent? With food? Or also
with clothing? And lodging? And with what sort of
food, and what lodging ? He who begins to secure him
self will never reach the end of the process, and will but
waste his life in vain, as it is said : " He that will save
his life shall lose it." Do we not see rich men living
miserably, and poor men living joyfully ? Man, as Christ
said, need not secure himself. Like the birds of the air
and the flowers of the field, he is secured, once for all, by
God.

274 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
" Yes, but if so, and if people do not work, do not
plough or sow — all will die of hunger," is what is usually
said by those who do not understand (or do not wish to
understand) Christ's teaching in its full, true meaning.
But, really, this is only an excuse. Christ does not forbid
man to work, and not only does not advise idleness, but
on the contrary commands us always to work ; only, not
for ourselves, but for others. It is said : the son of man
came not to be served, but that he might serve others ;
and the labourer is worthy of his keep. Man must work
as much as possible, only he must not keep things for
himself, nor consider as his what he has produced; but
must give it to others.
In order most surely to secure himself, man has only
one means, and this means is the very one taught by
Christ : to work as much as possible, and content himself
with as little as possible. The man who does this will
everywhere and always be secure.
The Christian teaching cannot be taken piecemeal :
one bit taken and another left. If people, accepting
Christ's teaching, have repudiated violence, law-courts,
and wars, then they must also repudiate property. For
violence and law-courts are only wanted to retain property.
If people are to retain property, then they need violence
and law-courts, and all the arrangements of this world.
The temptation of property is the most subtle of all
temptations ; the evil of it is very cunningly hidden from
us ; and that is why so many Christians have stumbled
over it.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, in arranging your
life in a foreign land after being exiled from your father
land for fidelity to the Christian teaching, I see clearly
that it is in all respects better for you to live a Christian

A LETTER FROM TOLSTOY 275
life than to swerve from it and begin to live worldly lives.
It is more advantageous to live and work in common, with
all those who wish to live the same life as you do, than
for each to live separately, collecting only or himself and
for his own family, and not sharing with others. It is
more advantageous to live so : first, because you will not
waste your strength storing up for the future an insurance
for yourself and your family, which it is impossible for
mortal man really to obtain ; secondly, because you will
not each spend his strength in striving to withhold property
from his neighbours ; and thirdly, because you will produce
and obtain incomparably more by working in common than
you would do by each working separately ; fourthly, because,
living communally, you will spend less on yourselves than
if each lived separately ; fifthly, because, living a Christian
life, you will evoke among those who live around you, not
hatred and enmity, but love, respect, and perhaps an
imitation of your life; and sixthly, because you will not
destroy the work you have begun, and by which you have
shamed the enemies and gladdened the friends of Christ.
Above all, it is more advantageous for you to live a
Christian life, because, so living, you will know that you
are fulfilling the will of Him who sent you into the
world. I know it is difficult to have nothing of one's own ;
difficult to be ready to yield what one has and what one
needs for one's family, to the first man who asks it ; hard
to submit to your chosen leaders when it seems as if their
directions were faulty ; hard to put up with one another's
faults ; hard to refrain from luxurious habits : from meat,
tobacco, and intoxicants. I know that all this seems
difficult. But, dear brothers and sisters, we are alive
to-day and to-morrow shall go to Him who sent us into

276 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
this world to do His work. Is it worth while, for the sake
of calling things ours and dealing with them in our own
way, for the sake of a few sacks of flour, a few dollars, or
coats, a pair of oxen — or to hinder some one who has not
worked from sharing what we have earned, or on account
of some offensive word, or from pride, or for the sake of
some dainty food — to oppose Him who has sent us into this
world, and not to do what He wants of us, and what we
can only do during this lifetime of ours ? And what He
wishes of us is not much : only that we should not do to
others what we do not wish done to us. And He wishes
this not for Himself, but for our sakes ; because — if we did
but agree to do it — life on this earth would be as good for
all of us as it can possibly be. And, even now, though all
the world lived contrary to His will, yet for each separate
individual, who has understood what he was sent here for,
there is no advantage in doing anything but that.
To me, an old man at the furthest limit of life and
watching from aside, all this is quite plain ; but you, also,
dear brothers and sisters, if you will but think quietly
(throwing off for awhile the temptations of the world), you,
too, will see clearly that each man will lose nothing, but
can only gain in all respects, by living not for himself, but
by living to fulfil God's will. It is said : " Seek the kingdom
of heaven and its righteousness, and all other things shall
be added unto you." Each man can test whether that is
true. You have made the trial and know it to be true.
The only other plan is to seek for the other things — for
property and worldly pleasures — and, failing to secure them,
to lose the Kingdom of Heaven also.
And therefore, dear brothers and sisters, hold fast to
the life you have commenced, or you will lose what you
have, and will not find what you seek. He who has sent

A LETTER FROM TOLSTOY 277
us into life knows what we need better than we do ; and
He has so arranged things in advance, that man receives
the greatest blessing in this life and in the next, only by
fulfilling not his own will but God's.
As to the detailed arrangements of your communal
life, I dare not advise you — knowing that you, and espe
cially your Elders, are experienced and wise in this matter.
I only know that all will be well if each of you but
remembers that he did not come into this world by his
own will, but by the will of God, who sent him into this
short life to do His will. And His will is expressed in
the command to love. And to collect property separately
for one's self and to withhold it from others — is to act con
trary to the will of God and to His commandments.
Farewell. Your loving brother,
Leo Tolstoy.
February 27 (n.s.) 1900.

CHAPTER X
A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY
The close connection existing between Tolstoy's views and
those professed by the Doukhobdrs to-day, has already
been indicated ; and we shall hardly be going beyond the
proper limits of this work by devoting the present
chapter to a consideration of Tolstoy's remarkable letter.
That letter is definite, precise, and explicit, and is com
paratively easy to discuss ; whereas the ever shifting
opinions expressed by different members of the Dou
khobdr sect are so indefinite as not to be readily dealt
with. But as Tolstoy's teaching lies at the root of recent
Doukhobdr developments, when we have discussed that
teaching we shall also be in a better position to form an
opinion of those developments.
In one of his letters to Peter Verigin,* Tolstoy says that
an advantage the printed word has over vocal communi
cation is that "talkers (for instance, advocates) having a
gift of words, sway men not by their reasonableness, but
by their mastery of oratorical art, which is not the case
with books." But I think no one who has ever been
under the spell of Tolstoy's ability to put a moral appeal
over-impressively in books will be quite willing to endorse
that saying. There is something in his way of stating his
* In Essays and Letters by Tolstoy.
278

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 279
case which is quite comparable to the orator's art. When
Tolstoy states that a thing is right or wrong, calls on us
not to lower the standard of the ideal, quotes the Gospel
in support of his thesis, and proceeds to point out how
miserable is the result of wilfully opposing God — it
becomes enormously difficult to think for one's self on the
matter, or to venture to challenge his assumption and ask
whether it is true that what Tolstoy declares to be right
is right, and that what he declares to be wrong is wrong.
¦ In reading Tolstoy's didactic works one is impressed by
the importance of the topics he treats of, the frankness of
his statements, the boldness of his speculations, and his
amazing power of clear and popular exposition. My
admiration for Tolstoy and appreciation of his work is so
great that, for years, I instinctively slurred over points I
was unable to agree with, and was fond of saying that,
after all, the parts of a man's teaching most important to
one are those our reason and conscience fully accept and
confirm. Practical experience, however (in connection both with
the Purleigh Colony and the Doukhobdr migration),
ultimately obliged me to admit that there are some
aspects of Tolstoy's teaching which are not morally com
mendable, and which it is a duty to challenge. I
purposely use the words " not morally commendable,"
because many people hold the curious opinion that
morally Tolstoy's maxims are admirable, only they are
too good for man as he is now constituted, and must there
fore be ignored in our generation and adopted a few
thousand years hence, when people are different from
ourselves. From this view I dissent. If Tolstoy's maxims are
sound, I think more good than harm should result from

280 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
adopting them now ; and if it is inadvisable to do so, then
I do not know how we are to test their validity ; for the
final test of moral principles for us is whether they really
tend to forward, or to hinder, the cause of good will
among men as we know them, and not among men as we
think they may be at some future period.
It is a curious fact that many Tolstoyans insist most
strenuously on just those parts of Tolstoy's teaching which
are most questionable. For instance, on his statement
that the use of physical force to restrain one's fellow-man
is always wrong ; that the possession of private property
is wrong ; that to work for a landowner, or hire a piece of
land, is' wrong ; and that to pay any rate or tax to a
Government, or to serve any Government (imperial,
republican, or municipal) as a1 policeman, or even as a
civil servant, is wrong.
Experience, both within the Tolstoy movement and
outside it, shows that there is a flaw somewhere in all
this. I have seen cases in which people abandoned their
property without abandoning their selfishness ; and, on
the other hand, I have known cases in which men re
tained control of property not selfishly, but in order to
administer it conscientiously as a trust for the good oi
others. I do not wish to underrate the strength of the case
Tolstoy makes out. It is one that cannot be ignored,
and it includes things that are true and deserve to be
widely recognized.
Governments exist to protect life and property; yet
the greatest destruction of life and property to-day is
perpetrated by Governments, in war, and in maintaining
themselves. Tolstoy challenges the right of Governments
to kill men, or to deprive them of liberty, and he asks :

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 281
How can people, by calling themselves a Government,
make actions moral which would admittedly be immoral
if done not by a Government, but by some one else ?
He says the Gospels condemn private property and the
use of force by man to restrain his fellow-man ; and he
relies not merely on certain texts, but on the whole
sequence of the Gospel narrative, which, he says, bears
out those texts. The " Acts of the Apostles " mentions
property as being held in common by the early Christians.
The Fathers of the Church have many passages coinciding
with Tolstoy's views on war and property. The Fran
ciscan movement stood for the rejection of property (and
the ideas of St. Francis find appreciative echo in Protestant
countries to-day, as the success of Sabatier's work shows) ;
and W. L. Garrison in America, in 1838, drew up a
" Declaration of Non-Resistance " which Tolstoy himself
might have written, so closely does it fit the principles
he formulated independently, some forty years later.
It would be easy to give many other instances plainly
showing that for more than two thousand years these same
ideas have reappeared again and again, propounded by
good men, influencing large movements, and passing
unrefuted — except by the hard test of experience.
Once the first axiom (that physical force should never
be used between man and man) is accepted, Tolstoy's
whole scheme becomes consistent and logically irrefutable ;
there is no subsequent flaw in his argument against
Government, law-courts, and property.
The evils of the present system of imperialism, mili
tarism, and commercial competition, with its contrasts of
wealth and poverty, are, moreover, becoming so apparent,
and men's consciences are so moved to revolt, that, even
had Tolstoy never spoken, thoughts such as his would

282 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
assuredly have found expression. They stand recorded in
history, and never quite die out of men's minds, though
in modern times they have never before received such
emphatic, systematic, or world-wide proclamation as
Tolstoy has given them. Where, then, is the weak point
in his position ? Why do these principles of non-
resistance and repudiation of property not stand the
test of experience, but always retire into the background
after each fresh trial ? What became of the communism
of the early Church ? What did Wyclif and his con
temporaries think of the Franciscan movement? Why
did W. L. Garrison support the re-election of President
Lincoln, who was waging a great war? And why do
"Tolstoy Colonies" always fail? Why, in a word, is
experience against a theory that is so plausible and
appeals so strongly to the hearts of men ?
Here let us remove one stumbling-block from our
path. We want to use our minds upon a perplexing
problem, but almost before we have begun to think about
it, we are in danger of being crushed by authority.
Jesus, we are told, said so-and-so, and by these words he
meant so-and-so ; the question is therefore settled in
advance, and settled beyond all appeal. For a Catholic
the theory of apostolic succession and the claims of the
Catholic Church are established by Christ's own words,
" Upon this rock I will build my church." For a Salva
tionist, certain sentences in certain letters of Paul's, and
certain explanations of those given by Augustine and
Calvin, establish the " scheme of salvation." In a similar
way for the Tolstoyan the words, " Resist not him that i
evil; but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also," coupled with certain
explanations given by Tolstoy, establish the law of

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 283
non-resistance beyond appeal and in spite of common
sense and of all experience.
I am, however, not willing to abandon the investiga
tion of a subject at the very outset, but instead of
plunging into disputes as to the dates, authorship, or
authority of the Gospels, or as to the correct Greek text,
or as to the best translation or real meaning of certain
words, or, even, as to the real drift and tendency of
Christ's whole teaching and the comparative emphasis to
be laid on this or that part of it (disputes needing many
volumes and not likely to terminate in our lifetime), I
prefer to deal with the subject in hand, and will give a
simple reason for considering this problem of force and
property with our own minds.
I am ready to admit that Tolstoy's views on Govern
ment and property are more or less distinctly discernible
in the Gospels (though they are not there pushed to the
front, or weighted with such corollaries as he deduces).
For the sake of argument I will even go much further,
and will suppose that Tolstoy's opinion is absolutely
correct, and that the whole authority of the Gospel is
opposed to the opinion which to you or to me may
appear reasonable. But I plead that even in that case
we must still be allowed to believe and say what seems
to us reasonable, and to disbelieve what seems to us
unreasonable. If a cabbage from a certain seed, under certain
conditions, after a certain number of days' growth, ought
to be ten, but is actually only eight inches high, still
it is better to let it continue to grow from its own roots
than to cut it off, perch it on a stick, and make it at
once ten inches high. For when you have severed it from
its own roots it never can grow any more. Similarly?

284 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
each man should use his own reason and conscience; not
because his mind is necessarily better than any one else's,
but because it is his own. There is nothing presump
tuous in breathing with one's own lungs, even though they
be not as powerful as other people's ; nor is it presump
tuous to think with one's own head, seeing that it is the
only head one can think with.
Venturing, then, undeterred by authority, to face this
problem, I will try to put my case so clearly that if I am
in error some one may correct me and bring us nearer to
the true solution.
In the letter contained in the last chapter Tolstoy
gives an admirably concise and precise summary of his
anti-property and anti-force opinions, and urges their
immediate adoption by the Doukhobdrs.
He gives, in that letter, an excellent maxim of economic
morality, namely, that each man should " work as much
as possible, and content himself with as little as possible."
In a world in which want exists, the more this saying is
considered the more clearly its value will be appreciated.
But why need Tolstoy assume that the institution of
private property is immoral, and that communal property
is moral ? Whence can the Doukhobdrs obtain a moral
right to withhold their land from other settlers who
would like to take it ? Is it not evident that if private
property represents the selfishness of an individual, com
munal property represents the selfishness of a clan ?
And that (to use Tolstoy's words) the only possibility of
defending what they consider theirs, is " by violence ; that
is (in case of need) by a struggle, a fight, or even by
murder." " To acknowledge property is to acknowledge
violence and murder. . . . Those who perform military
and police service, and make use of property, act better

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 285
than those who refuse to be soldiers or policemen, but
yet wish to enjoy property. . . . The Christian teaching
cannot be taken piecemeal : it is all or nothing."
It follows from Tolstoy's axioms, that if Verigin,
entrusted with the Doukhobdrs' earnings, goes to Winni
peg to pay off their debts and to buy goods for the
coming season, and if he is there met by some one who
asks for the money in order to gamble on the stock-
exchange, it will be Verigin's moral duty to hand it over ;
for Christ said : " give to him that asketh of thee ; " and,
according to Tolstoy, "the Christian teaching is all or
nothing ! " Moreover, " if our property is not taken from
us, this occurs only because people think that we, like
others, shall defend it. Therefore to acknowledge property
is to acknowledge violence and murder." It follows even
more definitely from the Tolstoyan law, that if in such a
case as I have imagined some one snatched the money
from Verigin, the latter should neither snatch it back
again nor set the police to catch the thief.
Tolstoy, who shrinks from no logical consequence of
his axioms, will no doubt be ready to grant that com
munal property (if a step better than private property),
has no sacred rights, and that the Doukhobdrs should be
perfectly ready to abandon their land to any settlers who
like to claim it.
But here, at last, one has to challenge the very axioms
from which Tolstoy starts. What evidence is there that
the use of physical force to restrain one's fellow-man is
wrong when not used maliciously, hastily, or wantonly?
How, again, does Tolstoy know that the motive for the
possession of property is always selfish ? I am ready to
grant that the use of physical force is so often prompted
by malice, and the use made of property is so often selfish,

286 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
that a strong presumption has arisen in many minds, to
the effect that malice and selfishness are the sole roots of
these things. But axioms must not be accepted without
strict examination ; for the root of much perplexity lies in
them. What has happened in the case of Tolstoy and the
Tolstoyans may be paralleled, I think, by the case of
Bradlaugh and the Secularists. The clergy and religious
people of a generation ago made a fetish of the Bible.
Their attitude towards it was ignorant, superstitious, and
credulous. Consequently an overwhelming feeling arose
in the minds of certain sincere and brave men, that the
influence of the Bible ought to be attacked and destroyed.
They made a fierce onslaught on it, emphasizing its defects
and minimizing its value. The Bible, which is the cream
of the literature of a people who had a genius for religion
(as Matthew Arnold points out), responds admirably to
man's spiritual needs, and its value is independent of the
stupidity of bibliolaters. The Secularists could not see
this : their reaction against a stolid superstition was too
vehement to be balanced. And there really was a true
and unanswerable side to their case — as against the current
opinion they were attacking. Treating the Bible as an
infallible book was not their blunder ; their mistake lay
in allowing their indignation at something wrong in the
world around them (namely, at the stupidity and super
stition of the bibliolaters) to blind them to the immense
service rendered to humanity by the saints and sages who
had created the invaluable literature preserved for us in
the Bible.
The Tolstoyan attack upon property and on the use
of physical force, presents a similar case. Just as the
Secularist is so bent on destroying a superstition that he

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 287
overlooks the true use of the Bible, so the Tolstoyans are
so bent on checking the malevolent and harmful use of
force and the selfish use of property, that they condemn
the whole institution of human laws and Governments,
quite forgetting the enormous debt of gratitude humanity
owes to the high-minded and public-spirited men : the
Pyms, Hampdens, Washingtons, and Lincolns, to whom it
owes institutions which, rightly used, make further reforms
easy of attainment that without them would be almost
unattainable. As the vehemence of their movements die
down, the Secularist may begin to see the value of the
Bible, and the Tolstoyan the healthy root which enables
the institutions of human law and property to survive all
attacks directed against them.
If it were true (as is often assumed) that our property
system rests simply and solely on a basis of selfishness, the
Tolstoyan case would be valid. The real justification for
that definiteness in relation to our use of material objects,
which is the essence of the so-called " rights of property,"
lies in the fact that definiteness tends to facilitate harmony
among men. If a man makes a spade and the spade is
recognized to be his, he can use it (selfishly or unselfishly),
or he can give it to a man who needs it, or he can lend
it to others for a definite time or on definite conditions.
In a word, human intercourse and human co-operation are
facilitated by the existence of a common understanding
which does not need to be thrashed out afresh at each new
transaction. If any one wants the spade, he knows he
must come to the owner for it. But suppose "no pro
perty" principles were prevalent (and I have seen this
operating on a small scale in a Tolstoy colony), you would
have causes of discord multiplied a hundred-fold. The
man has then "no right" to the spade he made, or to

288 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
the book he wrote. Consequently, he has no right to
give it away, for he cannot confer a right he does not
possess. Neither can he lend what is not his. Some one
else may come and walk off with it, leaving him unable
to finish his work, and he is deprived (by this queer
moral code) of the right even to complain. He at once
puts himself in the wrong by wishing to assert that he
ever had a right to anything.
A sincere young man I knew, named A., came under
the influence of an eloquent leader in the Tolstoy move
ment, and adopted "no property" principles. Another
young man was induced to spend the few hundred pounds
he possessed in buying land for " no property " people to
live on. Quarrels, bitterness, and waste of time and
energy were the immediate result, simply because of the
indefiniteness of the arrangement. Little by little the
colonists, who had hoped to set an example to mankind,
had to learn — what mankind has to relearn as often as
the truth is forgotten — the need of definiteness in human
arrangements if we wish our efforts to result in benefits
either for ourselves or for others. A. ultimately settled
down in the practical possession of a piece of land he
cultivates ; but he continued to hold " no property " ideas.
He happened to be fond of flowers and took pride in a
flower-bed he had planted and tended. Arguing with B.
(a fellow colonist), A. maintained that the flower-bed was
not his (A.'s) own property. " Then any one may claim
it who likes ? " asked B. " Yes," replied A. " Well, then,
I claim it, and will walk on it," remarked B., and pro
ceeded, with heavy boots, to trample down the flowers.
B., of course, acted badly ; but A., it seems to me, was
also to blame for lack of definiteness. It comes ultimately
to this, that two men cannot both eat the same piece of

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 289
bread, and there is no moral gain in pretending you do
not claim the bread you eat.
Good business consists in getting work done with a
minimum of waste, confusion, toil, or contention. That
is what every one aims at who deserves our respect as a
business man. Reliable men who work efficiently are the
salt of industrial and commercial life, and they are just
the men who are surest to feel the need of definite arrange
ments, especially if they possess any organizing capacity.
Tolstoyism, in its eagerness to cure the terrible evils
that result from selfishness, has become reckless about
conserving what is good in the present order of society.
It does not value those results of efforts expended in the
right direction, which have become sacred to us because
they are so human and pathetic. In this respect, it is
like the nurse who poured out the baby when emptying
its bath. To defend itself against the disintegrating forces of
which Tolstoyism is but one instance, human society must
learn to recognize and respect what is noble, healthy, and
heroic in itself, and must cease to regard its baser elements
as the cement that holds it together.
If it is a moral duty to promote concord among men,
it is certainly a moral duty to make definite arrangements
about property matters. It is true that no external
arrangements the ingenuity of man can devise, will secure
peace and harmony among obstinate, wilful, and incon
siderate people. But definite arrangements tend to make
it easier for any set of men to avoid friction, and easier for
them to co-operate harmoniously together. That human
arrangements are imperfect is not a reason for rejecting
them, but is rather a reason for continually improving
them.

290 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The advantages, whether of individualism or of com
munism, must always be comparative. It can never be
a question of " all or nothing," as Tolstoy would have
us believe, but must always be a question of more or less.
Under different circumstances, at different times, and in
different places, the balance of advantage may lie this
way or that (and the well-being of the community will
always depend on the character of its members more than
on the form of its institutions) ; but reasonable men must
devise and insist on some definite arrangements, and
Anarchism (Tolstoyism is peaceful Anarchism) is only
intelligible as a reaction against despotism.
A very close and suggestive parallel may be drawn
between Tolstoy and a great writer who influenced him
very strongly, namely Jean Jacques Rousseau. Each of
them lived under an ancien regime which was decaying and
breaking down. Each of them thought much of what
should be, and stringently condemned what is. Neither of
them was careful to consider what of permanent value to
humanity there may be in the present structure of
society. '
In Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin qf Inequality,
property is derived from confiscation, all wealth is a crime,
all government is tyranny, all social laws are unjust. In
The Slavery qf Our Times Tolstoy says much the same
thing. Rousseau's deism offended both Churchmen and
materialists. Tolstoy's case is just the same. (Nor do I
think he is wrong here). Both men are individualists of an
extreme type ; neither of them has the modern scientific
spirit, which conscientiously tries to understand how we
came to be what we are. They do not care laboriously to
trace the path by which society has reached its present
stage, but prefer to produce a theory from their inner

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 291
consciousness. Their inclination is to look upon the
present as bad and to contrast it with a state absolutely
good, which Rousseau found in the primeval savage life,
while Tolstoy finds it in a future state of society when
physical force will be no longer used between man and
man. Both are men of great literary power, and both are
typical of states of society in which the Government is
not controlled by the society it governs, and in which,
consequently, as soon as a man ventures on the
dangerous course of criticising Government, his criticism
is likely to be extreme. A man in that position is not
weighted, as we are, by a consciousness that the Government
owes its mandate to his own choice and to that of his
fellow citizens. Rousseau " saw that under the French
monarchy the actual result was the greatest misery of the
greatest number, and he did not look much further.
The Contrat Social is for the political student one of the
most curious and interesting books existing. Historically
it is null ; . . . practically its manipulations of the volonte
de tous and the volonte gene'rale are clearly insufficient to
obviate anarchy. But its mixture of real eloquence and
apparent cogency is exactly such as always carries a
multitude with it, if only for a time." * Something like
this might be said of much of Tolstoy's work, by way of
completing the parallel. But our danger (except for a
small minority of exceptionally constituted people) is not
that Tolstoy's social theories will, in this country, be taken
at more than their true value, but that the strongly
practical trend of the English intelligence will cause the
real worth of his work to be underrated. People are so
terribly apt to accept a thing completely or to reject it
completely ; they are so little inclined to weigh it carefully
* George Saintsbury.

292 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
and discriminate judiciously ; and our local predispositions
run so strongly counter to those of Tolstoy.
While I am writing this, the words of a Russian familiar
with our institutions, come into my hands. Paul Viho-
gradoff in his inaugural lecture as Corpus Professor of
Jurisprudence at Oxford, said that Sir Henry Maine, "Never
sacrificed the complexity of organic evolution to unity, of
conception and clearness of exposition. Whatever his
failings, he undoubtedly possesses the merits of an English
man in his search for the meamkng of life as it really is.n
. . . An apparent obliviousness of the complexity of social
problems, marks much of Tolstoy's work. He has learnt
by personal experience, but is impatient of the more com
plex lessons of social experience. He advances at a rate
possible only to those who have cut the traces which bind
them to the slow waggon of social progress, and who move
in the frictionless realms of theory. Yet it is a social and
not a merely personal morality that claims us to-day, and
if we accept new rules we wish to verify them by experience.
It is this characteristic of English thought which makes
it so difficult to secure appreciation for Tolstoy's views
among us. We may sympathize with his aims and detest
the things he detests, yet we cannot but question some of
his most sweeping generalizations. But because his views
are not all right, they are not, therefore, all wrong ; and
the help he can render us is all the greater because he
approaches the problems of life from another side, and
helps us to see them through other eyes.
His service is not merely that he has stated some
great problems soundly and well, nor is it that on other
subjects (such as this great question of non-resistance,
government, and property) he has stated an important
fallacy so powerfully that he almost compels us to find the

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 293
right reply, but it is, above all, that he faces the funda
mental problems of life and of morality with a courage,
a frankness, and an inspiring confidence in the efficacy
of moral and intellectual effort,' to which it would be hard
to find a parallel in modern literature. An Englishman
is usually, by natural habit of mind, so specialized and
restricted in his outlook, he is so absorbed in " the tare on
tallow," or on winning the next election, or on framing a
workable compromise that will unite the extreme and the
moderate temperance reformers, etc., etc., that in ninety-
nine cases out of a hundred he has never even tried to
face the great problems Tolstoy deals with and makes
so attractive. It is invaluable for the average English
man to learn that such problems can be dealt with, and
are being dealt with — however unworkable some of the
proposed solutions may be.
Tolstoy condemns all civil and criminal courts of
justice; and their defects in England as well as in Russia
are obvious enough to make the condemnation plausible.
But experience shows wherein the great value of law lies.
It may fail to render justice, but at least it obliges men
to face the light of publicity, and by the decision of an
impartial third party it settles many a dispute which
would otherwise continue indefinitely. Neither side can
refuse to have its case examined ; and even if the decision
arrived at be sometimes unjust, it is still a decision. In
reality an enormous number of cases are settled every day
(without going to law at all) by simply ascertaining what
the law is. Many agreements are concluded voluntarily,
because the more cantankerous of the disputants is aware
that by refusing a fair arrangement he cannot prevent
some impartial settlement from being arrived at. In a
word, the healthy root which enables juridical institutions

294 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
to survive in spite of all their many defects, is discoverable
in the fact that without them quarrels would be more
frequent, and harmony more difficult to attain than is now
the case.
Between Sir Henry Maine's statement that law is
" common sense," and Tolstoy's view that law is a gigantic,
costly, and wicked conspiracy whereby the rich enslave the
poor, the balance of truth is on the side of the former.
Again, as to using or neglecting to use our capacity
to restrain by physical force those whom we cannot other
wise prevent from injuring their neighbours, why should
we bury this talent with which Providence endows us ?
True, the malicious or harmful use of physical force in
wars, prisons, schools and elsewhere, has made it natural
to wish to challenge the right to use any physical force.
But in some cases the duty of using it is quite evident ;
and to define the cases in which it should not be used we
must seek a reasonable classification. It is right to dis
tinguish actions that do good from actions that do harm,
and motives that are benevolent from motives that are
. malevolent ; but the Tolstoyan distinction between actions
in which physical force is used to restrain some one, and
actions in which physical force is not so used, is unsatis
factory. It comes sufficiently near to separating what is
good from what is bad to be specious and difficult to
refute ; but it fails to condemn much that is bad, and does
condemn some things that are good. A malicious word
may sometimes be worse than a blow, whereas the arrest
of a violent and drunken man may be a wise and benevo
lent act. Who can doubt that if a man — mad, drunk,
passionate, stupid, or desperate — were to seize the helm of
a ship and insist on steering a course that endangered his
own life and the life of every one on board, it would be a

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 295
moral duty to remove him from the helm by force, if he
could not be promptly removed by any other means.
With kindly intent and for the general benefit of those
concerned, physical force has been, is, and ought to be,
used. Not to use it is sometimes immoral. The arbitrary
and unreasonable decree that it should never be used, is
the root of the whole puzzle ; and is the axiom from which
nearly all that is erratic or obscure in the Tolstoyan system
proceeds. In the dispute about property, both parties usually
assume that property rests on selfishness. So St. Francis,
Tolstoy, and other reformers, naturally say, " Then let us
have nothing to do with so immoral an institution ! "
But here the destinies interpose and laugh to scorn the
heroic attempts of the prophets and the saints. At first,
the moral appeals, and ethical arguments appear to be
all on one side ; but the facts of life remain obstinately
on the other.
As long as the justification of property or of govern
ment is supposed to be a selfish one, so long will move
ments of moral revolt against these institutions occur and
recur. But as long as such movements fail to discern the
real good that resides in definiteness of arrangement — they
will continue to pour the waters of their enthusiasm into
a desert, and will achieve no permanent success. The per
ception of the true moral value of property and Govern
ment (often overgrown as they are by weeds and parasites
that make them barely recognizable) should help us to
find the banks between which the stream of man's intel
lectual and moral efforts must be guided if it is to flow
through the land, irrigate the fields, and make the country
blossom like a rose. The more carefully mankind differen
tiates between what is excellent and what is base in our

296 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
institutions, the more will all that is evil in them wither
and all that is good in them be strengthened and flourish.
But how could it happen that a man of Tolstoy's mental
power ever made so obvious an error as to suppose that all
use of physical force to check one's fellow-man is immoral ?
The question is easily answered if only we remember
how strong is the force of reaction. The various dis
senting bodies in Russia (Stundists, Baptists, Molokans,
and others) are still continually being persecuted, as their
predecessors have been persecuted during centuries. The
Orthodox Russian Church has the strong arm of the
secular power behind it, and meets all attacks by using
physical force. So the persecuted Dissenters naturally
identify physical force with moral iniquity : " Here is
proof that we are in the right and you are in the wrong ;
we wish only to use the arm of the spirit ; you will not
let us speak, but oppose us with the arm of flesh ! " In
this case, physical force and wrong-doing clearly go hand
in hand, and the world over it is only too easy to find
instances more or less parallel, while the cases in which
physical force is used between man and man benevolently
and beneficently are comparatively few and far between.
A false classification has thus been set up in men's minds
which identifies force with evil. To Tolstoy, who sym
pathizes warmly with the oppressed Dissenters, and who is
rightly horrified by the wars (and by the armed peace)
from which the world suffers, it has been natural enough
to adopt this classification. Nor need we wonder, for we
find that it has commended itself again and again in the
world's history to weak minorities anxious to be allowed
to proclaim their beliefs, but threatened by the violence
of mobs or governments.
I do not for a moment suggest that Tolstoy is other

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 297
than perfectly sincere in holding his non-resistant prin
ciples (just as W. L. Garrison was sincere in so doing in
the days of Boston pro-slavery mob violence), but it
should be noted, both as explaining Tolstoy's attitude
and as excusing it, that no line he could have adopted
would have more embarrassed the Government he was
opposing, or have enabled him to strike at it more
effectively and at the same time more safely. One can
not expect a man to keep his judgment carefully balanced
while he is fiercely fighting a great evil, nor should one be
hard on him if he predicates universal applicability to a
plausible generalization which in his own experience he
has found extremely useful. It is we, who live in other
circumstances and have other experience, on whom the
duty falls of detecting and correcting an error which it
would be inexcusable for us to make, though for him it
has been almost inevitable to do so.
The persecuting Church and autocratic Government
leaning on one another for support, cannot meet Tolstoy
in argument. They would be stabbed to the heart again
and again like unwieldy and naked giants, before they
found the one weak spot in the armour of the knight who
attacks them. And his indictment of them is so framed,
that should they use brute force against him they would,
to all appearance, by so doing just prove the truth of his
contention. His arrest or banishment would seem to con
firm the very point on which his teaching really stands
most in need of support.
On the property question, again, what could be more
natural for a strenuous man — revolting against the ex
ploitation of the poor by the rich — than to identify
property with selfishness ; and to declare that the remedy
lies in abandoning it altogether ?

298 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Francis of Assisi flung away his last garment and went
out naked into the world. Tolstoy shares that spirit ; and
in all grades of society and in all nations many men have
been attracted by the idea. That it is not adopted to-day
by numbers who are in revolt against existing evils, is due
to the fact that whenever it is tried evil results follow,
and eventually produce a reaction.
In the Middle Ages one hundred and fifty years passed
before the natural effects of the Franciscan movement
(which adopted the "no property" principle) were fully
visible, and before Wyclif was moved to rebuke the crowd
of " sturdy beggars " preying on men more industrious
than themselves ; and to declare, with pardonable exaggera
tion, that " the man who gives alms to a begging friar, is
ipso facto excommunicate." Things move more rapidly in
our day of printing presses and railways; and the same
cycle of actions : first the rejection of property, prompted
by religious enthusiasm ; then the sanctimonious exploita
tion of others who do use property; then a reaction
against the hypocrisy the movement engendered ; and, ulti
mately, a moral resolve to oppose the spread of what is
becoming a public nuisance — has been witnessed in the
Tolstoy movement in England within the last few years.
On the question of government it is almost too much
to expect a Russian to speak with moderation. One is
not surprised that so good a man as Kropotkin should, in
theory, be a violent anarchist, regarding assassination with
sombre acquiescence; nor is one surprised that Tolstoy
should become a non-resistant anarchist, denying the need
of any Government at all. Here, again, it is remark
able how strong a case he manages to make out: what
injustice Governments tolerate; how much they care for
themselves and how little they care for the common

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 299
people ; how greatly their patriotism consists in jealousy
of other nations, and how astonishingly large a proportion
of their revenue is devoted to the destruction of life and
property in war.
But, once again, the real answer to his thesis lies in
experience. Granting that Government is at best but an
expedient, and that the best of Governments has great
defects, it is still true that we should be worse off without
any Government; and it is not true that men only seek
power from selfish motives, or that power always corrupts
them. It is not by abandoning the institutions of one's
country, but by amending them and working them honestly,
that progress is being made.
The enormous excess of the amounts used by Govern
ments for harmful and destructive purposes over the
amounts they use for productive and beneficent purposes,
does not truly represent the balance of loss and gain to the
world from having Governments. The good that collective
activity does at home is cheaply done. We are so accus
tomed to the advantages of having a stable Government,
that we only half realize how great those advantages
really are. It is true that when racial animosity blinds
them, nations pour out their treasure like water, and let it
run to waste. Fortunately for mankind that waste is very
obvious ; but it is a fallacy to suppose that in the absence
of organized governments racial animosities would vanish.
Heartsick from the truth, rather than from the exaggera
tion, in Tolstoy's indictment, and almost persuaded by his
eloquence to accept what I see to be an unsound conclu
sion — I turn for strength to the words of a man who was
a practical politician, and did not shrink from power, but
whose sincerity, courage, and wish to do right were as un
questionable as Tolstoy's. Lincoln in his second inaugural

300 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
address (towards the end of the great American Civil War,
and not long before his own assassination), said, " Fondly
do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge
of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it
continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondman's
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall
be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three
thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ' The judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' With
malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to
finish the work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ;
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow and his orphan ; to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and
with all nations."
The difference between that appeal to continue the
work we are in, and Tolstoy's appeal to discard the insti
tutions human effort has evolved, is that whereas Tolstoy
concentrates his thought on what man ought to be,
Lincoln considered also what we are and what we may
become. Tolstoy denounces and condemns the steps imme
diately before us, because they are still far from perfection;
Lincoln takes those steps with his company, the better
to help them over the ground. The great risk of accept
ing a far-off ideal is that we have no possibility of testing
its validity by experience ; and it seems to me that a very
great responsibility attaches to those who urge upon
others an ideal which, when really tested by experience, may
after all prove to be faulty. That is why the work and the
example of a Lincoln is not less valuable to mankind,
than the work and the example of one to whom the

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 301
whole outlook on life (Weltanschauung, as the Germans
say) of a statesman appears immoral.
We could not do without our prophets, for they show
us many things that without them we should not see ;
but we must remember that they, too, are fallible ; there
is, as Jane Addams says, "A common sense in the mass
of men, which cannot be neglected with impunity, just
as there is sure to be an eccentricity in the differing
and reforming individual, which it is perhaps well to
challenge." By mentioning Lincoln and the Civil War, I have,
however, come to the stronghold of the Tolstoyan
position. Are we to justify war ? If the wholesale
and premeditated slaughter of men is right, can anything
be wrong ? Have we not an increasing testimony, from
Isaiah down to Wyclif, the Quakers, and Tolstoy, against
it ? Is not militant imperialism (with its accompaniments
of despotism and conscription) the great evil of our times,
which all good men should unite to resist to the utter
most, and should expose as a crime against humanity ?
I, for my part, will say no word in favour of war.
The war Lincoln directed was, perhaps, the most excusable
recorded in modern history. But looked at in the most
material and practical manner, one finds that it cost about
£1,600,000,000 to release slaves whose market value was
some £400,000,000, and it must not be forgotten that
the liyes of half a million men were thrown into the
bargain, that the reform effected was incomplete, and
that a multitude of other ills resulted from the struggle.
While, however, I see that the best of wars are hateful
and foolish, I yet cannot find any point in Lincoln's
career at which I feel sure that he should have refused
to continue the work he had in hand. There is a curious

302 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
sophistry, to the use of which men with a gift for simpli
fying great problems are often unconsciously prone.
They simplify a problem by isolating it ; and the sophistry
lies in the resultant over-simplification. The question,
" Is war right or wrong ? " evades the fact that the
problems of real life are not simple, but complex. The
choice is seldom between what is right and what is wrong ;
it is usually between a number of possible roads, — a choice
of evils, or of courses made up of good and evil inter
twined. Would it, for instance, have been better to stand
aside and acquiesce in the disruption of the Union ?
Would it have been better to leave 4,000,000 slaves in
captivity, whom Lincoln was afterwards able to release ?
Would it have been better to refuse the difficult and
dangerous duty of steering the ship of State, when he
alone could sufficiently command the confidence of his
fellows to save the country from still greater disasters?
I do not undertake to discuss or to answer these questions ;
my contention merely is that one has to weigh the special
circumstances of each case as it arises, and cannot safely
guide one's conduct by any hard and fast rule which
knows nothing of the circumstances of the case, or of the
character ofthe people concerned.
Surely the duty of man is not to do what he can't, but
to do the best he can ; and I believe that, by adopting
abstract rules never to do this or that, never to use force,
or money, or support a Government, or go to war, and
by encumbering our consciences with line upon line and
precept upon precept, we become less likely to behave
reasonably and rightly than if we attended more to those
next steps the wisdom of which can be tested in daily life.
To speak, as Tolstoy sometimes does, of ceasing to do
evil bafore we begin to do good, is as though you asked a

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 303
lecturer, before delivering his discourse to cease to vitiate
the air by breathing ; or as if we insisted that a child
should cease to make mistakes before it continued to
learn arithmetic ; so profoundly true is it that " Social
perspective and sanity of judgment come only from con
tact with social experience. Such contact is the surest
corrective of opinions concerning the social order and
concerning efforts for its improvement."
The justification for using force to one's neighbour
lies in the fact that there are circumstances under which
(judging the matter with one's faculties at their best) one
would oneself wish to be restrained by force. All that
Tolstoy says, holds good as against malevolent, vindictive,
and revengeful force ; but it breaks down as soon as we
come to consider cases in which a man's motive for using
force (or for using the law) is a well-considered belief that
it is, on the whole, the best course to pursue in the
ultimate interest of the various people concerned.
The justification for the possession and use of property
lies in the fact that one can serve one's fellows better under
settled than under unsettled conditions. Property gives
no moral right to a selfish or wasteful expenditure of
the fruits of toil; but property is far too responsible a
trust to be flung aside. Whether it be kept or lent or
given away, it involves responsibilities which reach far
beyond the personal relation of its owner towards the first
man who begs for it or snatches at it, though that is the
only side of the case Tolstoy usually deigns to consider.
A firm of forgers of bank-notes or of bills of exchange,
should, on the Tolstoyan theory, neither be prosecuted,
nor arrested, nor have their implements seized. He regards
the problem as limited to the forger and the prosecutor,
and as being decided by the prosecutor's willingness to

304 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
forgive the man who asks to be let off. Really, such a
matter relates to the whole community ; and if men fol
lowed Tolstoy's advice, and refused to be policemen,
judges, jurymen, witnesses, etc., human affairs would be
thrown into inextricable confusion, for no better end than
to furnish one more practical refutation of a theory
experience has already refuted a hundred times.
The misuse of property must be distinguished from
the ownership of property.
Just as there is a difference between (1) the hermit
who retires into the desert to live a holy life and to escape
from sin; (2) the monk who joins a special Order to attain
the same ends, and (3) the social worker who spends his
life if need be even amid the friction and worry of a
crowded city, for the sake of co-operating with those
weaker or more ignorant than himself; so there is a
difference between (1) the individualist-Tolstoyan frame
of mind which isolates life's problems, and refuses to
see their complexity ; (2) the communist-Tolstoyan frame
of mind (represented by Work while ye have the Light)
which desires to form communities which, breaking with
the past, re-commence the task of organizing human
relations ab initio, and (3) the social frame of mind, which
is ready to share the life of humanity at large, prizing the
efforts of our predecessors too highly, and esteeming our
own powers too modestly, to be willing to fling away what
the past has handed down to us.
So wide is the scope of Tolstoy's non-resistant theory,
and so important is its confirmation or refutation, that, at
the risk of wearying the reader, I will venture to recapitu
late the conclusions I have come to.
(1) Tolstoy's pronouncement about property, law,
and Government, cannot be contemptuously brushed aside,

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 305
for it is no isolated eccentricity of his own ; he is the latest
and most consistent exponent of a view that reappears
again and again in history, and corresponds to deeply-
seated instincts and aspirations of the human heart.
(2) No clear, full, and detailed reply to the opinions he
advocates has, so far as I know, ever been published. It
has been left to the hard, wasteful, enthusiasm-blighting
force of experience to check the evil results of what is
wrong in those opinions. A convincing reply might rescue
for profitable work on behalf of humanity, many an earnest
soul, which without such guidance will spend its strength
in a path leading nowhither, and land itself in a quag
mire of intellectual confusion.*
* Since I wrote this chapter, Mr. George Moore's " Avowals " about
Tolstoy, have appeared in the Pall Mall Magazine.
After remarking that Tolstoy has spent many years " pleading falsehood
in the interest of his special code of morals," and commenting on his " clear
and vehement mind," and the " battle between an extraordinarily clear
intelligence and an extraordinarily powerful temperament," he concludes
" our contention is that Tolstoy . . . sacrifices truth to theory." While there
is much in Mr. Moore's " Avowals " that I heartily disagree with, I have
never before seen the case against non-resistance so forcibly or briefly put.
Tolstoy, says Mr. Moore, " values morality, but he would sacrifice morality
for the sake of his theory — be does not hesitate to put it aside ; and this
was most clearly brought out in his interview with Mr. Stead. He was
telling Mr. Stead that in the later texts the Gospel says, ' Be not angry
with thy brother without a cause.' The words 'without a cause' made
the gospel read like the daily paper, and Tolstoy went back to the earliest
text. The words ' without a cause ' were not there. Mr. Stead asked
him if he admitted no exceptions to his doctrine of the non-resistance to
evil : for instance, if he saw a drunken man kicking a child to death,
if he should not use force to prevent him. Tolstoy admitted that
this was an exceptional case. A little while after, he perceived that to
admit an exception invalidated his whole doctrine, and he wrote to Mr.
Stead withdrawing what he had said, saying that not even in the case of
a drunkard kicking a child to death should evil be resisted. But Tolstoy
does not believe this — no one believes it, no one can believe it. . . . If
you Were to say to Tolstoy, ' I am willing to live in obedience to a moral
standard ; but which moral standard, for there are so many ? ' he would

306 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
(3) All bandying of imputations of base motives in the
discussion of a matter of this kind is out of place.. The
Holy Synod says Tolstoy thinks as he does because he is
morally perverted ; various Churches often say the same of
those who do not agree with them ; Tolstoy, like the Synod
and the Churches, often assumes that what he says is just
what Jesus meant, and that all men know it to be true
and would publicly admit it were they but sincere. Really,
neither Synod, Church, nor Tolstoy, can be allowed thus
to beg the question in their own favour. The arguments
pro and con must be squarely met whether those who
advance them be honest or dishonest. It is for him who
is wisest and strongest, if he be truly wise and strong, to
be gentlest towards those who are in error.
(4) For Russia in particular, where the existing form
of autocracy seems to be on its last legs, it is nothing less
than a national calamity that her great literary prophet
should exhort people to neglect and despise the aid that
law, government, and definite property relations, can

answer, ' There is but one, and that one you will find in the Gospels.'
But how do I know that the Gospels are true ? Tou yourself are forced
to make a selection of Christ's teaching. ' My interpretation of Christ's
teaching is the true one, for it is in agreement with the voice of conscience
which you will hear speaking within you.' But no man's conscience tells
him that he should not use force to prevent a drunkard from kicking a
child to death."
This is quite unanswerable. Tolstoy bases his case on an appeal to
conscience, but the conscience of every rational and humane man is
against him on the crucial point. The morality or immorality of using
physical force depends not on any absolute, rigid, and external law, but
on ciroumstanceB and on motives, and Tolstoy cannot, after first calling
on our consciences to authorize his interpretation of the Gospels, then
proceed to use his interpretation of the Gospels to override our con
sciences I What it comes to is this, that he has built his theory condemn
ing law and government and property, on a foundation-stone which, when
we examine it, is found to be, not of rook, but of Band.

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 307
afford to the public well-being. That Russia may pass
through the crisis that is sooner or later coming upon
her, without having to encounter a reign of terror and a
subsequent military dictatorship, it is all-important that
reverence for law, and the habit of respecting social as well
as individual morality, should be carefully cultivated.
Respect for social morality is far too weak everywhere,
and is weaker in Russia than elsewhere. That participa
tion in local or other Governmental affairs, in the adminis
tration of justice, or in the management of private property,
should be subjected to moral indictment, is very greatly
to be regretted, however sincere the motives prompting the
indictment may be. " An exaggerated personal morality
is often mistaken for a social morality, and until it attempts
to minister to a social situation its total inadequacy is
not discovered." To attempt to attain a social morality
without being willing to learn the lessons of democratic
experience (which furnish the only possible corrective and
guide), ends in an exaggerated individual morality but
not in social morality at all. ..." A man who takes the
betterment of humanity for his aim and end, must also
take the daily experiences of humanity for the constant
correction of his process." *
A reply to Tolstoy's impetuous rejection ofthe fruits won
by the efforts of previous generations of reformers, is well
given in his own second letter to Verigin. " When I see
an ant-hill in the meadow, I cannot admit that the ants
have been mistaken in constructing that hill, and doing
all they are doing in it. And in the same way, looking
at all the- . . . labours mankind has accomplished, I
cannot admit that they have done it all by mistake. . . .
I do not wish to destroy the whole hill of human
* From Democracy and Social Ethics, by Jane Addams.

308 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
labour, but only to arrange better what is ill-arranged
in it." Would that he always spoke so reasonably ! The
matter is of the greatest importance to Russia, but even
among ourselves there are men, whose aid the cause of
.social progress can ill afford to lose, who have been diverted
by Tolstoy's anti-Governmental teaching from all attempt
to work the institutions of their country, or to support
those who try to work them aright.
Therefore, I have felt moved to sketch out what I
take to be the main lines of a reply to Tolstoy's theory
of non-resistance. To develop it fully would need, not a
chapter in a book dealing mainly with another subject,
but a whole book to itself.
" God needs our limitations," Tolstoy once remarked ;
and even the greatest of men have their limitations.
Tolstoy is gifted with an unrivalled faculty for condensing
and simplifying ; it has enabled him to render immense
services to mankind, the value of which is not yet fully
recognized, and I should greatly regret if by any word of
mine I appeared to underrate his worth ; but he has some
times treated as simple, what is really very complex, and has
included in one wholesale condemnation, customs, institu
tions and occupations, the abolition of which would leave
us worse off than we now are. The appreciation of the
fact that property carries with it duties rather than rights,
and that its possession furnishes no excuse for luxury, or
for not serving our fellows, preserves what is vital in
Tolstoy's social and economic tractates, and paves the way
for those voluntary or legislative readjustments in society
which are becoming every day more and more urgently
necessary.

A CRITICISM OF TOLSTOY 309
Tolstoy, as I have elsewhere remarked, " is no fault
less and infallible prophet, whose works should be
swallowed as bibliolaters swallow the Bible; but he is
a man of extraordinary capacity, sincerity, and self-
sacrifice, who has, for more than twenty years, striven
to make absolutely plain to all, the solutions of the
most vital problems of existence." To admit that he has
not always succeeded in reaching the final solution of
the problems he has dealt with, is merely to admit that he
is human. When his achievements are finally summed up, in the
foreground (besides his work as novelist and dramatist)
will stand the fact that he, first among Russians, framed
a moral indictment of Church and State, of Synod and
Autocracy, which compelling men's attention re-echoed
throughout Russia and reached to the ends of the
earth. With great originality, power, and lucidity, he has
succeeded in giving, in popular form, sound answers to a
number of large questions (concerning art, religion, etc.)
which are outside the scope of this book. But not least
among his many claims to the gratitude of humanity, will
stand the service he has rendered by boldly grappling
problems others feared to tackle, and which even he has
failed to solve : problems so complex that only one side
of them could be dealt with at a time. He has called in
question the very foundations on which our social edifice
is built, and he has done this so clearly and forcibly that
the matter cannot be left where it is. We cannot go on
patching the superstructure, if the whole building is
perhaps on the point of crashing to the ground ! I have
tried to suggest reasons for believing that however
urgently the building may need repair, the old foundations

310 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
are as firm to-day as when they were first laid. But, not
the less, it is well to have them re-examined, for they
will, I believe, be found to rest, not on the subsoil of
selfishness hitherto regarded as a solid rock, but on a
subsoil of morality, which, though really safer, still appears
to many no better than a quicksand.
When the clamour of partisans and of detractors has
died down — when Tolstoy's errors and exaggerations have
all been frankly admitted — it will be only the more
distinctly realized how immense is the debt humanity owes
to this man, whose intellectual force, love of the people
courage and outspokenness, have given to his words a
power of arousing men's consciences, unapproached by any
of his compatriots and unequalled by any of his con
temporaries.

CHAPTER XI
CONCLUSION
Recalling the hope and bustle and throbbing life of the
Tolstoy movement of 1895-99, and the enthusiasm that
then existed to help the Doukhobdrs, I ask myself,
" What, of gain or loss, has resulted ? "
Is it good or bad for Canada to have some seven
thousand five hundred Doukhobdrs forming a separate
kingdom in her midst ? The question is the more apropos
because the desirability of becoming British subjects has
lately been pressed on their attention, and they have
shown considerable reluctance to accept that suggestion.
I do not think Canada suffers from the presence
of a frugal, laborious, sober, honest and serious people;
even if they have their own superstitions and clannish
patriotism. It is true that there is a danger in the one-man
power to which they are subject. People who submit
their minds to any hypnotic influence, are liable to
behave irrationally ; and collective irrationality constitutes
a public danger. But in this case it is probably not an
immediate danger ; for whatever we may think of
Verigin's philosophy (and the publication of his Letters
indicates Kapoiistin's shrewdness in deciding that the
sect had better not learn to read), he is certainly a
311

312 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
capable organizer, and under his rule there is reason to
expect that they will increase in material prosperity.
They are now already quite well-to-do. No doubt trouble
may arise should he be succeeded by an incompetent
man ; but the peculiarities of the Doukhobdr nature,
formed under conditions different from those that exist in
Canada, are sure to be gradually modified by their altered
human environment, and the danger that now exists is
likely to diminish with time.
Even to-day the men who have been away at work on
the railways, or elsewhere, would many of them be inclined
to break from the enchanted circle, were it not that the
women hold them back. The women are the chief reposi
tories of the " Living Book " that enshrines the traditions
of the sect, and they are exceedingly conservative. To be
told they are "no Doukhobdrs," or "like Galicians," is to
them a terrible reproach. Besides this, they feel (and are
they not right ?) that life in a community, with its vivid
and varied interests, its ceaseless human intercourse, its
co-operation and zeal for the common good, is incompar
ably preferable to the dull, lonely, isolated existence of
the ordinary Canadian settler's family, squatted in the
midst of a hundred and sixty acres all by themselves.
Canadians, with a patriotic selfishness that is not
admirable, often ask why they should have the uplifting
of inferior races ? Why should not Europe cure the folk
Europe has spoilt ? But (apart from the question whether
the Doukhobdrs are an inferior race : either physically,
mentally, or morally) is it not nobler and wiser for a
nation to share in the task of uplifting humanity, rather
than to try to maintain an exclusive virtue, limited
by a political boundary and safe-guarded by deliberate
selfishness ?

CONCLUSION 313
Whenever a Canadian official treats a Doukhobdr with
kindly consideration ; whenever the authorities show
themselves straightforward, firm, and fair ; whenever
any Canadian treats a Doukhobdr as a fellow-man, a
real step is taken towards curing the Doukhobdr of his
clannish exclusiveness. One obstacle to the Doukhobdrs
frankly becoming British subjects lies not in their super
stitions, but in ours. The Doukhobdr, amid errors how
ever gross, has seen the folly and wickedness of staking
the lives of thousands of human beings on the success of a
game of political bluff, played in absolute personal safety
by the ambitious politicians of different nations. The
whole trend of human advance, as well as the influence of
true religion, and the increasingly intimate relations be
tween foreign countries, must confirm and strengthen this
perception, and the fact that they see it clearly, while the
rulers of Canada and of England are only half beginning
to see it, constitutes a serious factor in the case. We
have no right to despise Doukhobdr superstitions and
Doukhobdr patriotism, as long as we foster among our
selves a superstition and a form of patriotism equally
degrading and even more deadly.
As to the immediate question of the Doukhobdrs
becoming British subjects (a matter which should be
settled in 1906 if they are, in pursuance of the original
plan, to receive free grants of the land they now occupy),
it is worth noticing that until Verigin had reached
Canada, the Government could do nothing with the
Doukhobdrs, whose consciences were abnormally tender
at that time. When Verigin arrived and saw what a con
fusion things were in, he announced that the sect would
become British subjects. Not a single protest was heard ;
and they made entry for their land on that understanding.

314 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Later on, when matters had settled down and Verigin
was firmly in the saddle, a strange thing happened; he
still professes his willingness that they should become
British subjects ; but, on this occasion only, his assistants
apparently work against him and advocate refusal of
Naturalization among the villages. The Government
pressed to have the agreement carried out. A meeting
of Doukhobdrs was called at the end of February 1904,
and decided that the matter must be left to the individual
conscience of each Doukhobdr, and the suggestion was
made that the Government should send a representative
to ascertain these individual decisions. Early in March
(according to some anti-Veriginite Doukhobdrs) a Cate
chism was sent round to the different villages to be learnt
by heart by every one, so that they should be ready to
reply to the official inquiry. A faulty translation of
this document appeared in the Winnipeg Telegram on
7th May. I give a' version that is better, though still
perhaps not quite correct, as my Russian copy is obscure
in some places.

1. Question. Why was Christ born ?
Answer. To save the world, and for kindness and humility.
2. £>. Why do you not wish to become subjects ?
A. The teaching of our Saviour forbids it.
3. £>. Of what kingdom are you subjects ?
A. Of that which has no bounds.
4. %. To what law are you subject ?
A. To that which has no bounds.
5. £>. Of what Faith are you ?
A. Judge by our deeds.
6. £>. To what Society do you belong ?
A. To the Universal Brotherhood.
7. ^j, In what land do you live ?
A. In the world, temporarily.

CONCLUSION 315
8. ^. Wherein has the love of God revealed itself to us ?
A. In that God has sent into the world a son of like substance,
that through him we might be saved.
Kings ! You exist for men who like yourselves are men of war.
Peoples ! as Christians we cannot take part in any conflicts and
dissensions, and therefore you may leave us in peace. We assure
you that a time will come when men will beat all their swords into
ploughs. So allow us already to-day to bear the standard of truth
along the path towards that golden age. Men are, in truth, all
equals ; this should be taught alike to the children of herdsmen and
of kings. We have such divine enlightenment that we can only do
good to humanity.
Do you really not admit that you are still upholding the rude,
human laws of an age that is past, when man flings himself on his
fellow-man, swayed by cruel instincts? Wars but increase the
miseries of mankind.
The matter is not yet ended. When the Catechism
came to light Verigin stoutly denied its authorship, and
readers must be left, at present, to form their own
conclusion about it. What I would beg leave to point
out is, that even if Verigin be responsible for it, we are
in no position to throw stones at him. The plea of
political necessity has repeatedly been adopted by our
own leaders as an excuse for telling lies, as in the
historic instance of Lord Salisbury's repudiation of the
"wholly unauthentic" reports of the Anglo-Russian
agreement in 1878. But it is only fair to let Verigin
speak for himself on this matter. The following letter
from him, dated 15th April 1904, appeared in Mr.
Tchertkoff's Free Word (Svobodnoe Slovo), which may
be regarded as a semi-official organ of the Doukhobdrs,
for it seldom fails to print the views to which they wish
to give publicity, and it always has delightfully pious
explanations of any policy they choose to adopt.
" According to the Canadian laws all immigrants who

316 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
receive grants of land, have to sign an attestation of
allegiance to the English King. Privately, agents of the
Government have already two or three times proposed
this to the Doukhobdrs, but most of them do not at
all wish to, and apparently will not, become subjects ;
and, in the future, troubles with the Doukhobdrs may
arise here. The law is that, from the day of entering for
the homestead three years should pass ; then the Govern
ment gives a title-deed of ownership of the land, for
which the oath of allegiance must be signed. In principle,
this term has not yet passed, as the Doukhobdrs only
entered their names for the land when I arrived last
spring (1903), but practically the Government fully
acknowledge the Doukhobdrs to be reasonable, and are
not unwilling to accept them into the bosom of citizen
ship. . . . The three years are fixed for observation of
immigrants : ' Are they of a profitable kind ? ' There
is yet two years' term, and time will show what will then
happen. To speak openly, many of the Doukhobdrs are
dissatisfied with the climate and with cattle breeding.
And taking all things together, whether it will not
compel the Doukhobdrs to emigrate from Canada, cannot
be guaranteed." I will add the opinion expressed in a letter by Gregory
Kanigin of Trdytskoe, North Colony, on 28th March 1904
(i.e. soon after the circulation of the Catechism already
referred to).
"I forgot to tell you about 'being subjects.' The
Doukhobdrs have decided that it is unnecessary to promise
subjection to any kings or emperors. It is an evident sin
to take an oath, that is, to promise. But the Canadian
Government very much wishes that we Doukhobdrs should
be subjects, and its officials often come to us about it.

CONCLUSION 317
But our Doukhobdrs answer them and persuade them :
' Let us all live together ; come now, throw up all service
and obedience to kings and emperors who rob the people,
get up wars, lead us — the people — to the field of battle,
arrange battles, and there slaughter us, and oblige us to
kill and execute one another.' "
The Doukhobdrs have developed a talent for irony of
this kind. They would be rather taken aback, if those
they address took them at their word, settled down as
members of the "Universal Brotherhood," and began
to protest against Verigin's rule, which, though not
resting on bloodshed, is still a dictatorship, and practically
requires a good many "promises" from a good many
people. Verigin, as I have said before, is in a very difficult
position. The traditions which have influenced his sect
for a century have (if they ever weighed with him) been
largely obliterated by the new ideas that reached him
during his fifteen years' exile. At the same time his sect
seems to need leadership, and his power as Leader rests
largely on their superstitious loyalty to him. We see by
his published letters what a terrible muddle many of
his own ideas are in, and there is considerable reason to
suspect that he does not always say what he means on
practical questions ; but we have no right to expect him
to come up to the fancy portrait painted of him by the
Tolstoyans. And while on this topic, let me explain a matter that
has given rise to misunderstanding and to some scandal.
Peter Verigin, as we have seen, was married when quite a
young man, and separated from his wife nearly twenty
years ago by Loukeriya Kalmikdva. The marriage customs
of the Doukhobdrs differ from our own. Prostitution and

318 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
mariages de convenance are practically unknown among
them. They attach little importance to marriage cere
monies, and none at all to legal decrees of divorce ;
they do not make the distinction that we do between
the actual and the legal dissolution of the marriage
bond. Verigin's wife has remained in the Caucasus, and has,
it is said, thrown in her lot with those Doukhobdrs who
have rejected Verigin's leadership. From a Doukhobdr
point of view the marriage, therefore, ceased to exist years
ago ; and in their eyes there is nothing wrong in his
remarrying. But Verigin (and here we get near the bottom
of the Doukhobdr protests against the registration of
marriages) does not want to get into trouble with the law
against bigamy. So, when taking to himself another wife,
he has preferred to do it without a wedding ceremony, and
his present wife (who is a daughter of one of his nieces)
passes officially as his "niece." Once again, I am not
sure that those who want the Doukhobdrs to become
loyal subjects of Edward VII., Fidei Defensor, are in a
position to say much to the Doukhobdrs on the question
of conjugal fidelity.
Returning to the consideration of the gain or loss that
has resulted from the migration, and looking at the
matter now from the Doukhobdr side, Have they gained
by going to Canada? We may, I think, safely answer,
Yes ! The condition they had drifted into in Russia
was intolerable. In Canada they have had a fresh chance,
with every advantage that could reasonably be hoped
for. It is no small gain that, after all the confusion of the
past, their real beliefs are gradually becoming known,
and their temptation to prevaricate is diminishing.

THE LEADER, WITH HIS NIECE," INSPECTS f THRESHING MACHINE. Plate XV.

CONCLUSION 319
Nothing can be worse for any folk, than to be committed
to a systematic course of secrecy and duplicity.
What has been attempted in this book has been to give
some sketch of the Doukhobdr sect as a whole. This I
have tried to do impartially, and have quoted the testi
mony of those who have lived longest amongst them and
know them best. One such observer quite recently wrote ;
" Undoubtedly the Doukhobdrs were a good Christian set
of folks once — in the early, protestant days of the sect,
and the remains of it survive to this day : in some, it
would seem, the old spirit is still strong. Speaking
broadly, however, it is but the forms that remain, the
essence has been replaced by nationalism and the special-
prophet-of-God-with-Christ-living-among-us-always-in-the- flesh idea introduced by Kapoustin. So that now the
principal utility of their religion is to cloak their practical
politics." To avoid injustice to individuals it should
always be remembered that just as the different members
of our own families show very different characters, so the
members of any sect or clan numbering several thousand,
can by no means all be fitted into one mould. Each Dou
khobdr possesses a mind and heart of his own, as is the case
with each Catholic or Buddhist, each American or Russian ;
and nothing would be more unjust than to regard the
Doukhobdr children — who impress nearly all visitors most
favourably — as being condemned by hereditary taint to
inherit the errors of their parents.
If, however, generalizations have their drawbacks, and
no characterization of a whole sect can ever be more than
approximately correct, it remains true that to observe a
sect collectively is of some use, besides being justified by
the limitations of time and space.

A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The study of the Doukhobdrs is full of interest ; for
they illustrate much that occurred in the social and
religious movements of the past. While we watch the
Doukhobdrs, old-world problems present themselves to us
afresh as practical questions of to-day.
None of these has a wider or more pathetic interest
than that of which this sect furnishes so prominent an
example; namely, the constant yearning of the human
heart to incarnate the principle of goodness in a human
form. How incessant, how irresistible, is the desire to
select a man, a body of men — or were it but a book — that
is to be always right, and whose answers to life's sums we
may just copy down without having to work them out
for ourselves ! Use our own talents ? There are times
when the human heart does not desire to climb for itself
the endless ascent of the mountains ever revealing fresh
prospects and fresh ascents, but just yearns for some guide
who will do the thinking and observing for us. How
natural (in two senses) it is to say, " Infallibility must be
materialized somewhere ; and it is nowhere, if not here,"
and thereupon to accept a particular man, or Church, or
book, as ultimate interpreter of God's will. How many
people brought up in such belief, ever take the trouble to
test it for themselves, or even feel sure that it would be
right to do so ? What Catholic accepting the authority
of the Church, or Protestant accepting the authority of
the Bible (ignorant as we all are of how its canon was
composed), can afford to despise the Doukhobdr belief in
Peter Verigin ? Nay, does not the same spirit reappear in
the feeling of many a Tolstoyan, who thinks that to test
his master's theories by experience, and to question their
correctness until one' sees if they will work, is morally
reprehensible.

CONCLUSION 321
The worst of all such attempts to regard some par
ticular authority, existing in time and space, as an incar
nation of perfect goodness and wisdom, is that they tend
to perplex men, and to divide them. Clearness of vision
requires the single eye: "Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." As soon as we
set up any human authority — man, or book, or sect — and
say that it is wrong to question their decrees, our freedom
to follow goodness along the line of truth no longer exists.
In these matters Tolstoyism is in danger of following the
track of the religious movements that have preceded it.
Whatever problems Tolstoy may put before us, and how
ever graphically, clearly, impetuously, honestly and for
cibly he may deal with them, no solution of them will
help you, reader, or me, that is not our own. Each little
cabbage must grow from its own root ; however much it
may owe to seed, manure, or water, or to the gardener's
care in preparing the ground.
It remains to ask whether the Tolstoyans have gained
by their efforts to help the Doukhobdrs? Apparently,
in the first instance, they have lost. With flourish of
trumpets they proclaimed to the world that they had dis
covered a tribe of primitive Christians, practical exponents
and exemplars of non-resistance, fit for the rest of mankind
to imitate. When the matter came to a practical test —
the Doukhobdrs surprised us all by showing scant regard
for the wishes or convenience of the Canadians, who had
offered them a home in the New World. They developed
unintelligible scruples, doubted the morality of vital
statistics, the lawfulness of keeping domestic animals, or
even the propriety of using things made of metal, or of
doing any work ! An examination of the origin of these
scruples led to the discovery of their superstitious reverence

322 A PECULIAR PEOPLE
for their Leader — of the extent of whose sway no hint had
been given us by those who spoke authoritatively on behalf
of the sect and professed to understand it. All this was
disappointing. But in another way gain has come to the
Tolstoyans. Many a man who has been aroused, for the
first time, to a keen interest in life's problems by Tolstoy's
writings, has been inclined to attach an overwhelming in
fluence to the opinions of the teacher to whom he owed so
much. To such men the lessons of experience taught by
the Doukhobdr movement, and the knowledge of Tolstoy's
indiscretions in connection with it, have sometimes served
as a useful warning that, like other mortals, Tolstoy too
is fallible. The effect has been to check the trend towards
sectarianism, which is observable among some Tolstoyans,
however contrary it may be to the wishes of their Leader.
Personally my only regret is to have helped, however
unwittingly, to mislead the Canadian Government or any
one else. By this book, in which I do public penance, I
try to atone for that blunder. How it occurred, I have
already explained.
Finally, what of the cause of peace ? We now know
that the resistance to conscription in Russia was accom
plished not by a band of " Christian Martyrs "raised above
all ordinary human failings, but by men fully sharing the
faults and failings of common humanity. The conclusion
I should like to draw is, that if they could withstand the
hypnotism of military imperialism, so may we ; and that
when conscription comes our way, our resistance to it may
be as definite, as tenacious, and much more intelligent than
was theirs.
The story of the Doukhobdrs teaches lessons of
patience. It shows us how evils produce reaction, and
how the violence of reaction again becomes a fresh evil, in

CONCLUSION 323
its turn provoking another recoil. A little thing done
peaceably and gently may, in the long run, have a greater
net effect than a violent effort provocative of strife. In
this way it is true that the meek inherit the earth, and
in this sense the doctrine of non-resistance has real
validity.

APPENDIX I
Abbreviated copy of a Letter from the Deputy Minister
of the Interior to Aylmer Maude.
Department op the Interior,
Ottawa, December 1st, 1898.
Dear Sie,
Referring to my letter to you of 5th October last,
containing the terms of the arrangement made between
this Department and yourself in connection with the Doukho
bdr emigration from Russia, and in view of certain changes in
the conditions with reference to the matter, I beg to submit a
further proposal which will, I think, simplify and make the
arrangement entered into more easily understood. . . .
I have therefore to propose, on behalf of the Government,
that, in place of the bonus and commission which were to be
paid under the former agreement, the Department will pay
over on behalf of these people a sum equal to £1 (about $4'86)
per head for each man, woman, and child who may be reported
at the office of the Commissioner of Immigration at Winnipeg.
This, I imagine, will greatly simplify the arrangement and
prevent any misunderstanding, . . . and will result in the
Government paying over on behalf of these people the same
amount as would have been paid under the first proposal. . . .
I have therefore to submit the proposal as agreed between
us, namely, that a committee be appointed in Winnipeg under
which all arrangements will be placed in connection with
the settlement of the Doukhobors on their lands. This
committee will be fully authorized to disburse all moneys
325

326 APPENDIX I
placed to the credit of the Doukhobor fund, to the best
possible advantage. . . .
All moneys granted by the Government, are to be deposited
in the Union Bank of Canada at Winnipeg to the joint credit
of W. F. McCreary and Thomas McCaffrey, and payments
made out of this fund only on order of the committee ; Mr.
Alexander Moffat, Accountant in the Commissioner's office at
Winnipeg, to act as Secretary of the Committee. It will also be
his duty to keep separate books of account in connection with
the Doukhobdrs.
Regarding the commission to be paid by the Government
as above mentioned, it, of course, is understood that no portion
of this money is to be used for transportation expenses, but
that it shall be paid over to the credit of the committee for the
purpose of assisting in the maintenance of the Doukhobdrs
after arrival, and the purchasing of such supplies as may be
necessary in establishing the colony. . . .
I am now making application to the Railway Companies
who hold certain sections of land in the reservation set apart
for the Doukhobors, and expect in a few days that these lands
will all be placed at the disposal of the Department for the
Doukhobor colonies. This will give the colonies solid blocks
of land with the exception of Sections 11 and 29, which are
held in trust by the Department for educational purposes, and
which cannot be dealt with at present. . . .
I may add that it is expected that the necessary sanction
will be given to the order exempting the Doukhobdrs from
military service, a copy of which will be forwarded to you when
it has passed. Yours very truly,
(Signed) Jas. A. Smart, Deputy Minister.
To Aylmer Maude, Esq.
»% It may be mentioned that the Committee referred to
in this letter had hardly more than a nominal existence. The
funds were administered by the officials of the Immigration
Department, who, under the circumstances of the case, were
probably the best people to do the work.

APPENDIX II
P.C. 2747. Privy Council, Canada.
Extract from a Report of the Committee of the Honourable the
Privy Council, approved by His Excellency on
December 6, 1898.
On a report dated November 30, 1898, from the Minister
of the Interior, stating that arrangements have been completed
with Mr. Aylmer Maude, of London, England, the representa
tive of the sect of Russians known as Doukhobdrs who now
inhabit the slopes of the Caucasus in Russia, for the immediate
immigration to Canada of several thousands of these people :
That from a despatch dated May 27, 1898, addressed to the
Foreign Office by Her Majesty's Consul at Batoum, it would
appear that since their settlement in the region of the Caucasus,
the Doukhobdrs have, by their good behaviour, diligence,
sobriety, and hard-working qualities, brought nothing but
prosperity to the barren localities in which they were originally
settled, but as from religious doctrines they are averse to
bearing arms, an exception which the Russian Government has
refused to countenance, they have been permitted by the
latter to depart from Russia : —
The Minister considering that the Doukhobdrs would
appear to be a most desirable class of settlers to locate upon the
vacant Dominion lands in Manitoba and the North-West Terri
tories, is of opinion that it is expedient to give them the
fullest assurance of absolute immunity from military service in
the event of their settling in this country.
327

APPENDIX II
The Minister submits that sub-section 3 of Section 21 of the
Militia Act, Chapter 41 of the Revised Statutes of Canada,
contains the following provision : —
"Every person bearing a certificate from the Society of
Quakers, Mennonites, or Tunkers, and every inhabitant of
Canada of any religious denomination, otherwise subject to
military duty, who, from the doctrines of his religion, is averse
to bearing arms and refuses personal military service, shall be
exempt from such service when balloted in time of peace or
war upon such conditions and under such regulations as the
Governor in Council, from time to time prescribes."
The Minister recommends that under the power vested in
your Excellency in Council by the above provision, the Dou
khobors, settling permanently in Canada, be exempted uncon
ditionally from service in the Militia upon the production
in each case of a certificate of membership from the proper
authorities of their community.
The committee submit the same for Your Excellency's
approval. (Signed) John J. Myers,
Clerk of the Privy Council.
The HonourableThe Minister of the Interior.

APPENDIX III
CHRONOLOGUCAL SUMMARY OP CHAPTERS III. AND IV.

... 1320-1369-
about 1430-

1483-

John Wyclif 
John Huss
Council of Constance
Peter of Chelcic active...
Brethren of Chelcic form a Community
Judaizers burnt in Moscow 
Martin Luther 
Luther's ninety-five theses
Reformed Church in Riga 
Peasants' War in Germany 
Anabaptists rule in Munster
Bashkin imprisoned 
Printing press in Moscow 
Kosdy condemned
Ivan the Terrible rules
Antitrinitarian Church in Poland
Unitarian Church founded in Transylvania
Faustus Socinus at Cracow
First Slavonic Bible printed 
George Fox 
Nikon's Reforms in liturgy 
Church Council anathematizes Raskdlniks
Savage decrees against Raskdlniks ...
Kullman and Norderman burnt in Moscow
Peter the Great rules  1689
Last Council of Russian Church condemns Tveritinof
329

1533

15471565-
1579-
1624-

1687-1689-

1384 14151415
1456 14571504154615171523 1525
15351552
15531555
•1584 16581568
16041581
1690 1654
1667
1693 1689
1725
1714

330 APPENDIX III
Gregory Skovoroda  1722-1794
"The Rock of Faith "prohibited  1730
Biron, Duke of Courland, rules Russia  1730-1741
Sons of Priests taken as recruits ...  1736
Edict against Quakers in Russia  1743
Sylvan Kolesnikof active  about 1750-1775
Ilaridn Pobirdhin active  1775-1785
Non-Resistant Indians massacred at Gnadenhiitten ... 1782
Savely Kapoustin  b. 1743 (d. 1820 ?)
Migration of Doukhobors to Milky Waters 1801-1824
Alexander I. rules  1801-1825
Kapoustin invited to Milky Waters  1805
Robert Pinkerton visits Milky Waters ... ... 1816
Wm. Allen and S. Grellet visit Milky Waters ... 1819
Russian Bible Society suppressed  ... 1826
Vasily Kalmikdf  1792-1832
Ilaridn Kalmikdf  1816-1841
Doukhobors transported to Caucasus 1841-1844
Peter Kalmikdf died  1864
Loukeriya Vasilyevna Kalmikdva died ... ... 1886
Peter Verigin banished to Shenkoursk ... 1887
Peter Verigin advises vegetarianism, non-
resistance, and renunciation of intoxicants
and narcotics  1893
Peter Verigin banished to Obddrsk winter of 1894-1895
Burning of Arms  28 June (o.s.) 1895
Migration to Canada of 7,363 Doukhobdrs 1899
Protest against Canadian Land Laws ... ... 1900
Publication of Verigin's Letters...  1901
The Pilgrimage  1902
Verigin released from Siberia  1902
" Nudity Parades "  1903
Communal activity and prosperity  1903-1904

INDEX

Abbydxof, Vasily, 227
Abramof, 137
Adam and Eve, example of, 219
Addams, Jane, 65, 66, 67, 301
"Address to All People," the, 211,
214, 240
Advice not to work physically, 224
Agriculture, Doukhobor success in,
129
Albertson (of the " Christian Com
monwealth "), 66
Alexander I., 10, 23, 121, 122, 126,
138, 144
Allegiance, swearing, 153
Allen, William, 140
American Friend, the, 69
Anabaptists, the, 8, 84, 85, 86
Ananias and Sapphira, 161
Anarchism, 22, 290
Anarchists, 43, 44
Anarchy, Christian, 164
Angus, B. B., 56
Anne, the Empress, 104
Anti- Governmental propaganda, 171
 teaching : Tolstoy's, 308
"Appeal to the Sultan of Turkey,"
212
Apostles, twelve, 146
Arakteheyef, Count, 144
Arbitration, 4
Archer, H. P., 74, 76, 200, 239,
253, 254, 259
Arms, 26
 , burning of, 33, 174
Army service, 105, 167
Authorities, relations of Doukhobors
with the Eussian, 155

Bagehot, "Walter, 261
Baker, Miss Nellie E., 77

Ball, John, 81
Baptism, 17
Bareheaded and barefooted pilgrims,
217
Bashkin, 87, 88, 89
Behaviour towards officials, 132
Bellows, Hannah, 179
 , John, 76
 , "William, 179
Bible, the, 16, 20, 120, 132, 135,
142, 144, 286
Bible Society, the, 126, 134, 138
Binding machine burnt, 243
Biron, Duke of Courland, 104, 105
Birukoff, Paul, 62, 174, 214
Biriukova, P. N., 182
Bitterness of feeling, 216
Blagodarenie village, 188, 189
Bodyansky, Alexander, 200, 201,
202, 211, 212, 213, 214
Bogomilites, the, 7
Bohemians, the, 80
Bontch-Brouevitch, 77, 78, 150, 160,
259
Bonus, the, 325
Bougdashef Doukhobors, the, 167,
169
Bradlaugh and the Secularists, 286
Brethren of Chelcic, the, 83
Bribery, Accusation of, 155
Brotherhood Church, the, 163
Business, good : "What it consists in,
289

Caesar's Organization, 224
" Cake of Custom," the, 131
Canada, 39, 51
" Canada allows full liberty," 206
Canadian Government, 39
 , conditions granted by, 48

331

INDEX

Canadian Pacific Railway, 56, 56, 57,
58, 256
Catechism, a, 314, 315
Catherine the Great, 10, 106
Catholicism, Boman, and Quaker
ism, 109
Cattle, freeing the, 216
Caucasus, transportation to the, 23,
147
Central Office, the Doukhobors', 213
Century Dictionary, the, 62
Ceremonies, religious, 143
Character of Doukhobors, 18, 19
Choir patrols the street, a, 256
"Chosen People," a, 139
"Christ did no physical work,"
225
" Christian Commonwealth," the, 66
Christianity "harmful to any
Government," 225
Christ Jesus, 15
"Christ within," the, 14, 16, 102
Christian Commune of Apostolic
times, the, 161
Christian ; Community of Universal
Brotherhood, the, 7, 59, 140, 162,
163, 264, 266
Christian life, the, 183, 184, 192,
275
Christian martyrs, 175
 martyrdom in Canada, 212
 in Sussia, 6, 30, 173
" Christian teaching is all oi
nothing," the, 273, 285
Chronological summary, a, 329
Church decrees, 18
 , the true, 16
Civil government, 113
 War, the American, 301
Civilization, Tolstoy's criticism of,
247
Climate, the Canadian, 75
Coercion, moral, 191
Communal accounts, 257
 experiments, 186
 hfe more advantageous, 276
Communes, 188
Communism, 26, 119, 130, 132, 135,
167, 183, 184, 194, 246
Communism, accompanied by despot
ism, 267
Communism, advantages of, 261

Communism, conclusions concerning,
268
Communism, moral objection to, 261
Community of women, 130, 131
Concealment of beliefs, 132
 of crimes, 147
Confession, 17
" Confidential Eeport, a," 151
Conscription, 26, 27, 30, 32, 35, 43
322
Conscription refused, 171
Constantine the Great, 83
Contrat Social, Le, 291 i
Co-operative Store, a, 199'
Cossacks, the, 106
 maltreat Doukhobors, 33, 174
Council of Constance, the, 80
 of Three, the, 229, 254
Courts of Justice, 132
Cox, Professor and Mrs., 72
Crosby, Ernest H., 68
Crossley and Sons, John, 65
Cuncliffe, Dr., 72
Cyprus, 77
 Doukhobors, 46, 203
Day, arrangement of working, 256
Definiteness a moral duty, 289
 , its advantages, 253, 287
Dementia, religious, 239
Devil's Lake Colony, the, 53, 203
Diary, Horsey's, 89
Diet, change of, 168
Difficulties in Canada, early, 180
Discord, the spirit of, 184
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,
290
Dispersion of Doukhobors, 34
Dissenters, Russian, 296
Divinity, inheriting, 149
 of Leaders, 145
Divorce, 201, 318
Docifius, 100
Dominion National Council of
Women, the, 181
Don Cossacks join Doukhobors
the, 9
Doukhobor boy kicked to death, 40
 Committee of the Society of
Friends, the, 76
Doukhobor duplicity and secrecy, 20.
142, 194 '

INDEX

333

Doukhobor, fable, a, 187
 honesty, 182
 , name, 139, 140, 162
" Dou-kho-bors," how to pro
nounce, 6
Doukhobors, meaning of, 6
" Doukhoboria," 201
Doukhobors, persistency of the, 139
Doutchenko, N. I., 207
Drobishof, Peter, 125
Drougof, Dr., 125
Education, 41
Eiloart, Arnold, 47, 64
Ekaterinograd penal battalion, the, 29
Ekaterinoslaf Doukhobors, the, 15,
17
Elders, the Thirty, 146
Elizavetpol Doukhobors, 150
Elkinton, Joseph, junior, 69, 200
 , senior, 69
Emigrate, permission to, 37, 46
Essays and Letters, Tolstoy's, 223,
307
Evening Post, the, 72
Explanation, an ingenious, 227
" Extremes meet," 117
Faith of Doukhobors, the, 11-18
Fanaticism of Nudity Paraders, 241
" Far from freedom," 196
Fasting, 18
Fasting Party, the, 169, 170, 171,
172, 174
" Fatherland," the, 170
Faustus Socinus, 90
Ferry, incident at a, 197
Filibert, Anna, 148
Filipovitch, Danelo, 98, 99, 100
Fish-eating, 22, 189
Fofanof, Nicholas, 192, 193
Food, insufficiency of, 181
' ' For Faith, for Tsar, and for Father
land," 170
Force, justification of, 303
 with evil, identification of, 296
Fox, George, 9, 102, 113
France, Anatole, 1
Francis of Assisi, 298
Franciscan movement, the, 298
Free Age Press, the, 220
Free Word, the, 240, 243, 315

" Freedom in Canada, no," 205
Freemasons, the, 126, 138
friends' Intelligencer, the, 69
Friends, the Society of, 46
Fruit-eating, 215
Galician immigrants, 51, 265
Garrison, William Lloyd, 160, 281
"Gath,tellitnotin," 219
Gavit, John P., 66
George, Henry, 215, 221
Georgians, the, 174
Gibson (of the " Christian Common
wealth,") 66
Glagolief and the Judge, 30
Gnostics, the, 7
God-Maa, a, 152, 173, 178
"God's earth," 212
"  law," 206
"  truth," 203
"  Work," 243
Goodness, man's yearning to incar
nate, 320
Goubanof, Michael, 155
Government, 16, 280
 founded upon violence, 211
 , objection to, 207
Grellet, Stephen, 140
Handbook, a, 220
Harley, immigration agent, 204
Haxthausen, Baron A. von, 128, 129,
138, 145, 146, 147
Hell, 15
Belpl 60
Help needed by the Doukhobors, 181
Herron, Professor G. D., 66
Hilkoff, Prince D. A., 38, 39, 45,
46, 47, 48, 49, 60, 63, 54, 64, 65,
66, 72, 74, 75, 252
Hiryakova, E. D., 179
Hlists, the, 100, 101, 118
Homesteads, entry for, 61
Horses and cattle, buying and selling,
229
Horses and cattle, seizure of, 200, 254
Hospitality, 192, 197
How they are governed ; Doukhobors
never tell, 228
Howells, W. D., 69, 84
Hudsou Bay Company, the, 58, 258

INDEX

Hull House, 66, 67
Husbands and wives separated, 267
Huss, John, 80, 82, 83
Iconobor, 6
Icons, 18
Ideas, testing, 300
In the Land of Tolstoy, 45
Incarnation, 14, 20
Incendiarism, 230
Individualism preferred by many
Doukhobors, 252
Individualist phraseology, and social
practice, 264
Infallibility, 320
 , Quaker, 9
Intercourse with exiled leader, 157
Intoxicants, 18
Inward Voice, the, 36, 102
Ivan the Terrible, 88, 89, 90
Ivanof, Thomas, 92
Ivin, Ivan, 45, 46, 48, 49, 53, 56,
64
Jenkins, Howard, 69
" Jesus abandoned manual labour,"
215
John of Leyden, 86
Jones, Rufus, 69
Judaizers, the, 7, 79
Kalmikof family, the, 121
 , Ilarion, 25, 146, 147, 149
 , Peter, 25, 150, 152, 153
 .Vasily, 25, 145
Kalmikova, Loukeriya Vasilyevna,
24, 25, 160, 151, 153
Kanigin, Ivan, 265, 266
 , Gregory, 316
Kapoustin, Savely, 20, 26, 120, 121,
127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136,
138, 139, 145, 168
Kapoustin, doubts as to death of, 137
 , house of, 147
Kars, settlement in, 160
Kingdom of God, 162
Kingdom of God is within you, the,
169
Kola, Verigin banished to, 26
Kolesnikof, Sylvan, 17, 107, 113,
114, 115, 130, 145, 161

Konshin, A. N., 179
Kosoy, 88, 89, 90
Kostamarof, 97
Kozodavlef, Minister of the Interior,
138
Krasnikova, Matryona, 226
Kropotkin, Peter, 65, 298
Kulhnan, 94
Land, grants of, 58
 , making entry for the, 218
 question, the, 200, 202, 231
 , selecting the, 51
 , the; "he owns who works
it," 221
Langeron, Governor of Kherson, 136,
137, 138
" Large Party," the, 24, 26, 33,
166, 167
Law Courts, appeal to the, 155
 and property, Tolstoy against,
281
" Law is common sense," 294
Leader esteemed as " God and Tsar,"
227
Leaders, deification of, 118, 129, 145,
226, 227
Leadership, the, 63, 104, 151
Leather boots, wrong to wear, 236
Lincoln, Abraham, 299, 300, 301
Living Book, the, 99, 118, 133
Lloyd, H. D., 2, 66
Lollard movement, the, 81
Lopouhin, Senator, 121, 126
Loupkin, Procope, 99
Luther, Martin, 84
Luxury, 16
Lyovoushka, 150
McCreary, W. F., 54, 75, 326
Maciel, Antonio, 222
McNicoll, D., 57
Mahortof, Peter, 45, 46, 48, 49, 56,
64
Maine, Sir Henry, 292
Manicheans, the, 7
"Man need not act," 226
Manitoba Free Press, 236
Manners and customs of Doukhobors ,
the, 21
Marchetti, G., 55

INDEX

335

Marriage, 17, 99, 101, 124, 140,
142, 169, 201
Martinists, the, 126
Maude, Aylmer, 39, 49, 50, 53, 55,
56, 62, 66, 71, 322, 326, 327
Mavor, Professor James, 65, 254
Mennonites, 26, 39, 61, 122, 128,
133, 135
Messiah expected in Winnipeg, the,
228
Middle, or "Butchers' " Party, 169,
172
Migration to Canada, 40
 to Milky Waters, 122
Militarism, 4, 210
Military service, 168
 , the Doukhobors exempted from,
328
Militia Act, 61
Milky Waters, 11, 23, 25, 122, 123,
127, 134, 136
Milky Waters, expulsion from the,
149
Minnedosa, pilgrims at, 218
Mohammedan tribes, the, 23, 145,
154, 171
Molokans, the, 88, 92, 104, 117, 119,
138, 145
Moore, George, 305
Morality : personal and social, 307
Moravian Brothers, the, 84, 161
Morgan, James, 55, 56
Mount, the Sermon on the, 161
Mouzhoseyef, Zot, 124, 125
Munnich, 104
Munster and the Anabaptists, 86
Murders among the Doukhobors,
146
Nalimsky, Father, 136
Name-day, Peter Verigin's, 33, 172,
173
Nationality, the Doukhobor, 139
Naturalization, 311, 313, 314, 316
Naylor, James, 103
Needles objected to, 226
Neledinsky-Meletsky, Senator, 121
New life, the, 193
New Order, the, 212
New York Tribune, the, 72
Nicholas I., 146
 , Saint, 92

No-Government, 210
Non-resistance, 66, 67, 198
Non-smokers, 22
Norderman, 94
North (Thunder Hill) Colony, 53,
54, 185, 199
Novitsky, Orest, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15,
16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 103, 120, 146
Novokshenof, Fedya, 199
Nudity parades, 240, 241
Nurses' Settlement, New York, 69

Oath, in marriage, the, 17
Oath of allegiance, 18, 28
Oaths, 16
Occupations of the Doukhobors, 24
" Olhovsky, V." 62, 178, 179, 189,
193, 194, 214
One-man power among the Doukho
bors, the, 21, 145
Origin of Doukhobors, the, 6-9
Orphans' Home, the, 133, 147, 149,
150, 151, 162, 154, 155, 170, 171
Otradnoe village, 233
Ouklein, Simeon, 119
Outlook, the, New Tork, 248
Palitsin, Governor of Tambof, 124,
125
"Paradise and Torture,'' 146
Patriotic selfishness, 312
Paul, the Emperor, 10
Paulicians, the, 7, 8
Pavlovtsi, the, 181
Peace at any price, 28
People, a peculiar, 154
 and principles, 213
" People without sin," a, 133
Persecution of Doukhobors, 27, 120,
123
Peter of Chelcic, 83
Peter the Great, 8, 91, 92, 95, 100,
104
Philadelphia Friends, the, 181, 269
Physical force, 161, 295
Physics and Politics, 261
Pig's flesh, 123
Pilgrimage movement, the, 54, 177,
199, 216, 218, 219, 222, 233
Pilgrimage movement, a political
motive for the, 227, 239

336

INDEX

Pilgrimage movement, key to the,
224
Pilgrims crazy, 217
Pinkerton, Robert, 134
Pipin, 83
Planidin, Paul, 191, 229
Ploughing done by women, 181
Pobirohin, Ilarion, 118, 119, 120,
145
Politics concealed by religious phrase
ology, 202
Ponamarof, Ivan, 227
Popes, the, 130
Potapof, Vasily, 185, 186
Poterpevshy village, 233
Preaching the Gospel, 216
Priesthood, according to the Doukho
bors, the, 17
Prince Albert Colony, the, 53, 179,
183, 203, 206, 257
Prison at Regina, in, 242
Procurateur de Judee, Le, 1
Promised land, a, 234
Promises, immoral, 221
Property, a trust, 303, 308
 , the healthy root of, 287
 , does it represent selfishness ?
284
Property, "to acknowledge, is to
acknowledge murder," 272
Property, the Tolstoyan attack upon,
286
" Prophet and Tsar," 156
Proselytizing, 136
Psychic-religious epidemics, 222
Purleigh, Essex, 45
Quaker, a ; supposed founder of the
Doukhobors, 7, 8, 102, 103
Quakers, the, 9, 42
 , the, 14, 26, 42, 61, 68, 77,
101, 102, 113, 126, 140, 186
Quarantine, 179, 180
Rabetz, Marie, 179
Raskol, the, 94
Baskolniks, the, 95, 96, 98, 104
 , the, burn themselves, 97
Eeaction, the force of, 296
Eead, learning to ; the Doukhobors
discouraged from, 131
Redemption, the scheme of, 103
Remezof, 189

Resurrection, the, 16
Sock of Faith, the, 105
Rogers, Thorold, 81
Rousseau, J. J., 290, 291
Russian Peasantry, the, 70, 96
Russian Press, the, 60
Ryazanof, Vasily, 242
Sabbatarians, 80
Sacraments, tbe Church, 16, 17
Saints, the, 18
St. John, Captain Arthur, 30, 179,
200
Saint-Martin, L. C. de, 114, 115,
126
Salisbury, Lord, 65
" Sample " Doukhobors, 39
Saposbnikof, 98
Saskatchewan Colonies, the, 53, 54,
253
Saskatoon Settlements, 53
Satz, Sasha, 179
School, refused by the Doukhobors,
259
Schools, endowment of, 58
Secretiveness of Doukhobors, 20,
142, 194
Self-acting evolution, 36
Semenof, Matthew, 89
Senega root, 258
" Settlers, most desirable," 327
Sex-Question, the, 100, 131, 167,169
Sexual morality, 25
Sharapova, A. N., 182
Shaughnessy, Sir Thomas, 56
Shaw, Miss Flora (Lady Lugard), 53
Sherbinin, Michael, 29
Shervashidze, Prince, 151, 155
Siberia, banishment to, 37
Sifton, Hon. Clifford, 54
Single-Taxers, the, 215
Skoptsi, the, 100, 118
Skovoroda, Gregory, 115, 116, 117
Slavery of our Times, the, 290
" Small Party," the, 24, 33, 166,
167, 171, 172
Smart, James A., Deputy Minister,
64 326
Smith, Goldwin, 65
 , Miss Mary, R., 65
 , William, 81
Smoking, non-, 167

INDEX

337

Social tyranny among the Dou
khobors, 20
Sophia, the Empress, 95
Soulerzhitsky, Leopold, 73, 74, 77,
78, 178, 200
Souls, the transmigration of, 129, 145
Souslof, Ivan, 99
South Colony, the, 53, 54, 185, 186,
253
" Spoiling the earth," 215
Statistics, vital, 61, 62, 218
Stead, W. T., 305
Steam mills, 255
Stepniak, 96, 98, 148
Streltsi, suppression of the, 8
Strelyaef, Ivan, 189
Stundist Russians, 240
Sturge, WiUiam, 77
Summer, a second, expected, 217
Suspiciousness of Doukhobors, 134
Swan River Doukhobors, the, 253
Swynderby, William, 81
Tambof Doukhobors, 13, 15
Taxpayers, the Doukhobors punctual,
134
Tchertkoff, "Vladimir, 35, 45, 46, 49,
55, 56, 62, 174, 194, 220, 244,
259
Tebenkof, M., 154
Temperance, 22, 167
Temptation to work, the, 216
Terpenie village, 191
Theocracy, the Doukhobor, 20
Theophylact, 105
Thinking with our own minds, a
reason for, 283
Thomas, Dr. E. H., 69
Thoreau, H. D., 43, 166
Thunder Hill Colony, 53
Tiflis Settlement, 150
Tilling the ground, wrongness of, 215
" Time has come for us, the," 36, 37
Timet, the, 35, 174
Tobacco, 26
Tolstrt et les Doukhobors, 173
Tolstoy, Leo, 35, 55, 59, 60, 63, 69,
78, 111, 114, 117, 163, 164, 166,
166, 174, 175, 182, 184, 210, 211,
1221, 226, 243, 250, 251, 259, 278,
'279, 290, 291, 292, 293, 298, 300,
301, 303, 307, 309

Tolstoy, Leo, a criticism of, 278
 , a letter from, 270, 284
 , didactic works of, 279
 , his teaching and his banishment,
297
Tolstoy, Leo, humanity's debt to, 310
 , influence of, on Peter Verigin,
148, 159, 160, 161
Tolstoy, movement, the, 298
 , the teaching of; the duty of
challenging, 297
Tolstoy, Count Sergius, 178
Tolstoyans, the, 69, 60, 63, 64, 158,
165, 174, 177, 194, 206,209, 212,
219, 221
Tolstoyan philosophy, the, 183, 204
Totius, Arch- Abbot, 126
Transylvania, 91
Treasury, a common, 186
Tregoubof, John, 62
Tribute, 131
Trinity, the, 12
Truthfulness, the rarity of, 232
Tugenbund, 126
Tumen, 97
Turner, F. S., 9, 42
Turkish War, the, 150, 167
Tveritinof, 91, 92, 93
Tverskoy, P. A., 74, 75
Two Wars, 211
Ukraine, 106, 111, 117
Unitarians, 90
Use of metals denounced, the 215
Varney, Mrs., 77
Vegetarianism, 18, 22, 167, 168
Velitchkina, V. M., 179
Verigin, Peter, 24, 25, 26, 27, 37,
42, 62, 63, 76, 161, 152, 153,
154, 157, 158, 169, 160, 161, 162,
163, 164, 166, 168, 169, 170, 178,
182, 189, 194, 195, 201, 207, 208,
209, 214, 218, 224, 228, 229, 230,
245, 250, 251, 254, 256, 257, 262,
263, 264, 311, 313, 317, 318
Verigin, Peter, banished, 156
— , rouses his followers, 166
 , diplomacy of, 228
 , influence of, 229, 230
 , reforms of, 167
 ,!the wife of, 164

338

INDEX

Verigin, Peter, Letters of, 223
 , Gregory, 233
Verigina, Anastasya, 163, 179, 235
Vereshagin, Vasily, 206
Verovka village, 192
Villages built by women, 180
 , the names of the, 144
Vinogradoff, Paul, 292
Violence, 274
Von Menik, assessor, 125
Vorobyef, Alexey, 173
Voronteof, Count, 146, 148 ¦
Voznesenie village, 190, 204
Wald, Miss L., 69
War, 16, 18, 167, 301

Wet Mountains, banishment to the,
23,
Wet Mountains, the climate ofthe, 24
What is Arti 66, 111
Why Doukhobors live communally,
195
Women, the Doukhobor, 312
" Work as much as possible," 274
Work while ye have the Light, 304
Wyclif, John, 80, 82, 298
Tavorsky, Stephen, 105
Zibarof, Nicholas, 190,199, 229
"Zion," 133, 144
Zirtchoukof, Peter, 242

THE END

PFINTKD BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS. LIMITKD, LONDON AND nECCLKS.

a39002 00163^220b