Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

THE NIHILISTS 243of the "Young Italy" societies, as they were constitutedin 1848 . The object of the Armenian societies is revolutionagainst Russian rule, and the establishment of Armenianunion and independence .638 . Slaughter of Siberian Exiles, and Hunger-Strikes.-Towards the end of the year 1889, the civilised world washorrified by the account of the slaughter of a number ofexiles at Yakutsk, on their way to the extreme east ofSiberia, near the shore of the Polar Sea . These exiles werenot criminals, but exiled by " administrative order," that isto say, they had not been tried and convicted by anytribunal : Government, not the Law, arbitrarily had orderedthem to Siberia as suspects. Simply for asking to takewith them sufficient food and clothing ' for the terriblejourney still before them, they were declared to haveresisted the authorities, and a number of them shot down ;a woman, Sophie Gourewitch, was ripped open by bayonets ;the vice-governor himself twice fired at the exiles. Notsatisfied with this butchery, the surviving exiles were triedby court-martial ; three were sentenced to death, and manyothers to long terms of penal servitude in the mines . Earlyin 1890, still more horrifying details of hunger-strikes amongthe exiles reached Europe, and of the means adopted by theRussian Government to repress them . One lady, MadameSihida, was dragged out of bed, where she lay ill, and receivedone hundred blows . She died in two days from the effects .Many of her companions in misery took poison ; so did manyof the male prisoners . This occurred at Kara, in EasternSiberia . In fact, the condition of Russian prisons, especiallyof those where political prisoners are confined, is toohorrible to be described in these pages ; the moral andphysical suffering wantonly inflicted on the victims of aTsarish cruelty is without a parallel in the history of absolutism.The Tsar cannot be absolved from personal responsibilityin the matter : to say that he was not aware of thecruelties practised in his name, is saying in as many wordsthat his neglect of inquiring into them encouraged them ;but he must know them ; they had been frequently communicatedto Alexander III ., notably in a long letter writtenin March 1890 by Madame Tshebrikova, a lady of position,and not in any way connected with the Nihilists ; butfor writing it she was arrested, and sent to Penza, in theCaucasus, and placed under strict police surveillance .639 . Occurrences in 1890.-The Russian students havingin recent times shown decidedly Liberal tendencies, Govern-